A WALK IN THE WOODS INSPIRED HAMILTON PHYSICIAN AND BUDDING AMATEUR WINEMAKER JIM HEDGES TO TRY SOMETHING NEW. Hiking through a forested area, which was part of a 40-hectare parcel of land his sister had bought in southern Brantford, Hedges turned the property's white oak trees into wine barrels in his mind. Barrels produced with white oak from forests in France, Hungary and America are customarily used to age wine. Why not oak from Ontario? "It just happened to be around the time that I was getting rolling with winemaking, so those ideas were in my mind," says Hedges, who searched out information about barrel making on the Internet. "I looked at what was thought to be fine quality for barrel staves. The particular thing that they constantly seemed to talk about was the character of the grain - the really good staves have a fine grain," he says. "Of course, it's a harsher climate that produces a tighter grain. This is the northern-most region that white oak will grown in, it's as harsh as it comes." Hedges, who works as an assistant heart surgeon, and McMaster University geologist, Mike Risk, created Canadian Oak Cooperage and started their research and development, which was capped by transporting a load of wood to a barrel maker in Arkansas. They had small (30 gallon) barrels made with Canadian oak and American oak so they could experiment with batches of wine. "The greatest thing for us, was putting our noses into the completed barrels," Hedges says. "A kid in kindergarten could have told the difference. It was so distinctly different. The thing that remained to be seen was whether it was a good difference or a bad difference." The smell and taste of oak can be a seductive thing, which is why Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Shiraz and other wines are commonly aged in 59 gallon wood barrels that are commonly referred to as "barriques." Oak aging softens the texture, harmonizes the flavours and creates a more mellow and complex drink, but such enhancement comes at a cost. The process of making barrels is elaborate and time-consuming - for starters, barrels for aging wine must be watertight without the use of nails, glue or sealant, which would impart off flavours into the wine. There are no wine barrel makers in Canada. Canadian Oak Cooperage had to search south of the border to find a manufacturer. The barrels are made in Missouri using oak from the Brantford property and other areas in southern Ontario at the cost of about $850 per barrel. Prices for French and American oak barrels, which are generally used for three or four years, can cost up to $1,000 each. Winemaker Derek Barnett produced the first commercially available wine aged in Canadian oak in 2001 at Lailey Vineyard in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Twenty-five cases of the wine rapidly sold out in November 2002. He expanded his production in 2002 to include Canadian oak-aged Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Vidal Icewine

."I think the delicacy of these wines "The cooperage in Missouri where we have the barrels done is owned by Silver Oak," Hedges explains. "The master cooper there looked at the wood and smelled the barrels and held a couple back for the winery to experiment with."Hedges said interest is growing. He has received calls from other Niagara wineries and a couple of Okanagan Valley vintners who are keen to see what homegrown oak will do to their wine. Canadian Oak Cooperage plans to make between 100 and 150 barrels this year, which translates roughly into a couple thousand cases of Canadian oak-aged wine being released to consumers versus the tens of thousands that have spent time in the predominant French and American barrels. According to Hedges that number will satisfy all anticipated orders with a few left in inventory for next year. He's happy to slowly build his accounts. "Most want to try it out on an experimental basis first. They want to try them out with they what they have been using," he says. "We are pleased to do that because every time we have done that it has turned into a larger order the next year."lends itself well to the oak," explains Barnett. "It doesn't overpower them. Freshness, fruit and focus are what we strive for in our wines." The impact of Canadian oak is more reflective of French oak even though it is the same species as American oak. It adds more elegance and refined flavours to the wine, most similar to French oak barrels from Vosges, as opposed to the bold and brash overtones of American oak. Other Niagara producers are working with the barrels too. Featherstone Estate Winery in Vineland, The Malivoire Wine Company, Daniel Lenko Estate Winery, Thirty Bench Vineyards in Beamsville, Marynissen Estate Wines in Niagara-on-the-Lake all have Canadian oak in their cellars. A couple of barrels have even strayed as far as California's Napa Valley

 

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