What’s New at ENOTOOLS

US Amedee is a venture run by Doug Manning under the ownership of Stephane Radoux, the 5th generation Cooper by the name we all know.

We just opened the online store where you can find every product offered by US Amedee; Including EBX Liquid Tannins, Barrel Protect, Chips, Staves, etc.

SAVE 10% with discount code ENOTOOLS10

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-Oak products for maturation
-Finishing Tannins
-Barrel Protect

Enotools University Season 2, Episode 4 is a conversation with Ed Shulz about what makes these to barrel makers different from the rest; And why your wines cares about that.

Click the photo for a Spotify link.

Click here for the RSS link.

Why are you still using screw caps?

Convenience? That one is hard to argue with. But there are still pros and cons.

Consistency? Twice in one day last week I had a person say that we could open 12 of the same wines under cork and have 12 different wines. Bottling is a system. The package is a system. The corks we sell have been through several steps to ensure consistency. And as long as your filler and corker are functioning properly, I don't see an issue. Stay with me here. How often do you find a screw capped wine with shipping, handling, or storage damage to the cap resulting in oxidation? I'll wager that is more likely than finding TCA in one of my cork customers' bottles. The end user still sees inconsistency under a screw cap.

TCA is no longer a compelling reason to continue to poison the atmosphere.

Sensory Detection and Recognition of TCA in Various Matrices
Sponsored by the CQC and Conducted by ETS Laboratories in July 2001 - St. Helena CA Summary : A total group of 33 winemakers and enologists were presented with a rang of wine and cork soak samples spiked with TCA in a range from 1ppt to 32ppt. Results showed a wide range of sensory effectiveness. www.corkqc.com

I would attribute some portion of the consistency argument to variations in fruitiness due to a "ghost level" of TCA and the ways that it can stomp fruit while going unnoticed. This is why the new cork treatment processes for traditional, one- piece natural corks and use of technically advanced microagglomerated corks with maximum detectable TCA levels at 0.05, 0.03ppt (respectively) are needed. And this is what we offer.

Aluminum manufacturing is the core issue.

In a corks vs. screwcaps discussion, we both know and could (even today) argue for either. I have heard it all. How about, "My Mother in Law cannot operate a cork puller"? How about "Here's some box wine".

Not often mentioned, even in a crazy, alternate reality where CO2 wasn't important- Red Mud is the smoking gun for condemnation of aluminum.
Red mud - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org And as frightening as red mud is, the atmosphere is still the biggest issue. CO2 from manufacturing aluminum is a pretty big deal. "...According to the International Aluminum Institute (IAI), global PFC emissions in 2014 were equivalent to 34 million metric tonnes of CO2 [8]. Consequently, the average carbon intensity, including PFC emissions, of an aluminium producer aligned with the Paris Pledges in 2014 is (766 + 34) / 126 = 6.34 tonnes of CO2e per tonne of aluminium produced. This is 4.27% higher than the CO2-only benchmark." That is just sad.

Are you wondering how green a cork manufacturer actually is? Amorim Cork is the largest manufacturer. Let's look at them.

Amorim devotes more of their R&D budget towards sustainability than anyone else in the business and has been awarded accordingly.
Corticeira Amorim wins a World Finance Magazine Sustainability Award for the fourth consecutive year - News Detail - Media - News - Corticeira Amorim, world’s biggest cork processing group
Corticeira Amorim won the top prize in the «Wine products industry» category of the World Finance Magazine Sustainability Awards. Distinguished for the fourth year running, the Portuguese company w...
www.amorim.com

Anything else you need to convince you to abandon your screw caps could be retrieved on a Google search for "Amorim Sustainability Certification Award"

For the topic of sustainability, a Life Cycle Analysis by Price Waterhouse Coopers in 2008 has in an interesting perspective. Overview - Sustainability - Corticeira Amorim, world’s biggest cork processing group
Cork lies at the heart of Corticeira Amorims business. The company is committed to ensuring that its business activity has a positive impact on ecosystems, throughout its value chain, with an...
www.amorim.com

As a group, Amorim leads he charge for sustainability. For direct comparison, the Amorim XPUR cork retains 392g of CO2 while a single screwcap is implicated in creating what I can only estimate to be an amount of CO2 in the 400g range.

So how is cork suddenly trustworthy to a screwcap devotee?

"With Naturity and Xpür technologies, Corticeira Amorim is extending non-detectable TCA performance to both natural and technical cork stoppers. The world's greenest and most innovative and efficient anti-TCA technologies are redefining the future of the industry......" read more

The Amazing Neutrocork XPUR
Amorim Cork has brought supercritical fluid technology well into the 21st Century. Making TCA truly a thing of the past, Xpür allows for a robust and even deeper cleansing of cork’s cellular...
www.enotools.com

By now, if you are feeling good about using Naturity or XPUR, here are some fun facts:

Amorim is 150 years old.

The cork forests have been protected by law since the 1400's and sequester just over 4% of of the CO2 emissions of global fossil fuel use a year. This is impressive, since the cork forests are only 1.2% of the 30% of Earth's surface which is land mass.

Naturity and XPUR preserve the wine and align with your goals.

We are direct agents for Amorim and would very much appreciate your business.Reach out to Joe here.

Barrel Associates' American Oak Barrels are different and the reasons why are important to your budget and your desired results.

Listen in on Spotify or here at RSS.com

...the cork oak forests (Montado in Portuguese) represent 34% of the global cork forests. This represents the world's oldest legislative protection of a natural area.

Since 2008, it has been surprising to me how many people don't know for sure if harvesting the cork bark from this very special and extremely CO2 hungry tree is harmful to it. Many do not realize that the tree has developed a very special adaptation for healing its bark and replacing it with the beautiful substance you see in beverages from beer or spirits to high end, premium wines.

Here we are as members of an 8 Billion member race aboard the most beautiful planet in our solar system- seemingly along for the ride as our habits contribute to a macro trend which has us all a bit nervous. But In the Mediterranean basin, cork oak forests occupy an area of over 5.4 million acres (roughly 1.2% of the earth's land mass). This is important, since the cork oaks consume and retain 5 times the amount of CO2 of a comparable sized tree as they recover. These majestic trees are consuming approximately 4.5% of the CO2 created through fossil fuel useage worldwide. Remember, the Montado is only 0.004% of the planet's surface!

Amorim Cork sets the bar in manufacturing at large, not just the cork industry when it comes to sustainability. Enotools is proud to represent Amorim Cork America and we urge you to continue to look for closure solutions in the natural cork category for your products.

Contact us to learn more about Amorim Cork.

In a perfect world, you would have all of the barrels or oak tanks you need to affect the change you desire in your wine. Next you will be looking at cost. But what you need to look at cost PER DOSE.

Lets cut to the chase. Here's what you need to know about oak products from US Amedee:

Oak Chips: 13 cents a bottle. 1 month in tank. Micro Ox suggested.

Oak Staves: 9 cents a bottle. 3-4 months in tank. Micro Ox in tank suggested.

Zig- Zag barrel sets: 16 cents a bottle. Regular barrel aging schedule.

EBX Liquids: 5-20 cents a bottle. Up to two weeks before bottling.

If you still want barrels, we have them! Contact us today!

"Buy two GREAT barrels instead of four crappy ones. Because a barrel makes a good change, a bad change, or no change."

Well let's assume that you have great barrels that used to make a good change and now they make no change. Don't be ageist.

Reduce, re-use, recycle. Conservation. Being green. Don't throw away our old barrels or sell them as planters. They are way too pretty for that. Take full advantage of them by using our delicious french oak sticks called Zig Zag Barrel Inserts from US Amedee.

Available now in case quantity. Buy the tannin equivalent of 11 or 12 new barrels in 4 or 8 stick bunches. Email Joe.

If you use a "Technical Closure"- one which is made of cork, but not a traditional, one piece natural cork, you need to know what's available.