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Phoenix barrel rejuvenation cuts winery costs but not quality
Wineries throughout Australia are taking advantage of a unique barrel rejuvenation process which can cost as a little as one third of a new barrel and restores up to 85% of oak flavour characteristics.
Developed and delivered by South Australian based Diverse Barrel Solutions, with support from the Australian Governments via their Commercial Ready Grant Scheme, the patented Phoenix barrel rejuvenation process will give wineries up to three more years use out of their barrel and can be offered as a fully mobile service.
The mobile unit can process as many as 20 barrels a day and has proved popular with wineries from McLaren Vale to the Hunter Valley.
Mike Brown, Winemaker at Gemtree Vineyards in McLaren Vale, says he was pleasantly surprised at how well the Phoenix process worked on his old barrels.
"Diverse Barrel Solutions rejuvenated about 25 red wine barrels for me which I am now using in a Petit Verdot trial which is on-going.
"So far we've done two tastings and I've been pleasantly surprised by the results - the rejuvenation process has added a lot of complexity to barrels that I would have turned into flower pots.
"The oak that I gave them were 2000 and 2002 barrels - realistically they only had another year in them. The process has given me at least three more years of oak.
"Using the Phoenix process I've saved $1.60 per litre this year.
"I have never rejuvenated barrels before because I thought it brought out too much greenness in the oak. But this new laser technology profiling is great.
"Given the current cash flow constraints of everyone it is a piece of technology that can be adapted to the Australian wine industry very easily. You are getting the benefit of the ageing process and the breathing process of the wine in oak without having to purchase new barrels."
Nick Wickham, Diverse Barrel Solutions Business Development Manager, says Phoenix was developed to provide wineries with a cost effective barrel solution that would not compromise quality.
"We understand that achieving consistent product quality while minimising costs is the aim of every winery striving to remain competitive - especially in the current economic climate," Nick says.
"Using this process the life of old barrels is significantly extended at a much lower cost compared with buying a replacement barrel.
"Independent analysis conducted by the Australian Wine Research Institute shows that the benefits of the Phoenix process are vastly superior to other barrel rejuvenation options - we remove all wine contaminants to a depth of 8mm exposing clean wood and restoring original oak flavour characteristics.
"This works so effectively that even barrels previously containing red wine can be used for white wine fermentation with no colour leaching."
The hi-tech Phoenix barrel rejuvenation process begins by our robot
"scanning each stave individually to build an accurate three-dimensional "laser profile" of the inside surface to ensure all contaminated oak is removed.
A high-speed computer controlled cutting tool then removes up to 8mm off the inside of the barrel to reveal clean oak. Ultra-consistent infrared toasting is then applied using leading technology that removes the risk of toast variation and blistering.
Barrels are also re-crozed so that new 24 month country of origin seasoned heads (in either French or American oak) can be fitted below the original position and away from any possible taint.
Winemakers have the choice of having their barrels "Phoenixed" at Diverse Barrel Solutions' cooperage in Adelaide or using the self contained mobile service to have the process completed on site.
"The mobile unit uses its own power supply so that we don't drain energy resources from the winery. The only waste left over from the process is from the old barrel heads, which the winery usually chops up for firewood," Nick says.
"We're also aware that every wine business needs to be mindful of its environmental impact and by undertaking this rejuvenation process, less oak needs to be harvested overseas and less barrels imported which will make a contribution to the winery's carbon neutral footprint."
Diverse Barrel Solutions was formerly Southern Cross Cooperage. It provides three key oak solutions to wine companies: the Phoenix barrel rejuvenation process; the Optima range of French and American oak barrels and the Le Grand Bordeaux style oak barrels.
For more information:
Nick Wickham
Diverse Barrel Solutions
Ph: 08 8386 3270
Mob: 0407 976 759
Olivia Jones
FULLER
Ph: 08 8363 6811
Email: (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Release Date: 25 March 2009
