France moves to limit wood chips in wine
quote [French wine authorities have laid down plans to ban the controversial use of wood chips in higher quality appellation contrôlée wine, after the practice was approved by the European Commission.]
- from: www.beveragedaily.com
December 12th, 2006 at 8:53 pm
Interesting article. I know this has been an extremely controversial practice in the past. But I’m not sure if banning wood chips is going to make French wine more popular in export markets. There are so many other reasons why they have been slipping. As vulgar as the French think it is, the average international consumer seems to really enjoy really fruit forward wines made with grapes grown in warmer climates. I know that Yellow Tail even puts a little bit of residual sugar in their Shiraz.
December 20th, 2006 at 1:08 am
I’m far from a winemaker, but it seems that the chips would give the vintner much less control since the surface area of the wood chips is probably more than that of a barrel. I wonder if the wood chips are even toasted?