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May 19, 2015

Bourbon boom drives demand for USA oak

  • Demand in recent years has made the wood a little harder to find — Jack Daniel's now has nine people working as log buyers compared to two some years ago.
    • By MICHELLE LOCKE
    Associated Press

    OAKVILLE, Calif. — Napa Valley vintner David Duncan has been known to stick his head in an American white oak barrel to get a full hit of the vanilla-laden, fresh-baked cookie smell the emanates from the wood.

    In fact, his Silver Oak winery — which produces classic cabernet sauvignon from the Napa Valley and Alexander Valley — is so wedded to using only American oak (no French wood will suffice) to age its popular cabernet sauvignon, the family-owned winery recently took on 100 percent ownership of its own cooperage, where wooden staves are bent into barrels according to an ancient trade.


     
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