# Mini Staves (XOV)



## JohnT (Jun 29, 2012)

I ran across a product I have never seen before. These are "Mini Staves" that have been toasted using convection heat. They are described as "XOV" or "extra oak vanilla" and they claim that the convection heat drastically increases the vanilla compounds of the wood. 

Has anybody used these? If so, how did they turn out?


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## Deezil (Jun 29, 2012)

I can think of something i'd use them on, but ive never seen them before

Curious, indeed!


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## Runningwolf (Jun 29, 2012)

Yeah John they're great. Julie and I have been using them for years with Welches and Orchard Park concentrates. I surprised you never heard or used them before.


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## Julie (Jun 29, 2012)

Yes JohnT, as you know Welch's concentrate is very strong flavored and this oak really mellows it out. You never want to use a Welch's concentrate without using these staves or the wine taste like it was made from a concentrate.


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## Wade E (Jun 29, 2012)

Not sure if Ive seen them or not, if I did I must have questioned if they would fit in a carboy and strayed from them.


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## JohnT (Jul 2, 2012)

Wolf/Julie... 

My goal was to up/control the amount of vanilla compounds (which I really like) in the wine. 

It seems that using staves/cubes it seems that the amount of vanilla is not consistant. Some times I get a good dose, and some times I do not.

This XOV toast / method espouses a heavy dose of vanillan. I could keep them in reserve and add them to the wine in cases where it could use a heavier dose.

Has it been your experience that the convection XOV treatment used to make these staves is "as advertised"?


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## winemaker_3352 (Jul 2, 2012)

Where can you get these??


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## Chateau Joe (Jul 2, 2012)

I'm trying this brand of mini staves this year. http://www.winestix.net/ They are soaking right now in 3 carboys of Chilean. I will let you know how they turn out.


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## JohnT (Jul 3, 2012)

Folks, 

These are not just mini staves that I am talking about here. I have seen mini-staves before, but these have a toasting process they call XOV (extra oak vanilla). 

I found out a little more.. 

This is comming out from Australia. Apparently, shipping oak (as with shipping cork) to Austrailia is rather expensive, so they experimented with different methods of toasting oak. This convection toast (XOV) is supposed to drastically increase the size of the caramelized layer of the wood, giving a much pronounced mouthfeel and extract of vanilla compounds. They found that less oak was needed to be used, thus reducing production costs.

I ordered some yesterday. I will give it a test and report back in a number of months. The issue is that they only seem to be available in 11 pound batches (1000 liter's worth of treatment) and come in an infusement bag. I plan on testing it out on a small batch by adding about 8oz to a 54 liter demi.


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## winemaker_3352 (Jul 3, 2012)

JohnT said:


> Folks,
> 
> These are not just mini staves that I am talking about here. I have seen mini-staves before, but these have a toasting process they call XOV (extra oak vanilla).
> 
> ...




Where did you order these from?? I am interested in trying these out as well..


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