Source for Hungarian Oak

I don't know if they carry or can order smaller sizes than 225 liter, but you can check with Mel Knox at François Fréres USA. E-mail is snipped-for-privacy@pacbell.net.

Hungarian oak is pretty hot these days as a substitute for French because of the price difference. I tried Chardonnay in a Hungarian barrel last year as an experiment and liked it. It's not the same as French, but pretty close - certainly closer than American oak would have been.

Tom S

Don't know what reasonable price means but Stavin oak beans are available.

Ray

That's true, and they are a good product. Vintage Alternatives has some good barrel rejuvenation products too.

That said, however, aging wine in the presence of oak is not the same as aging _in_ oak. The very slow exposure to oxygen in barrel helps soften the wine aged therein as the flavor of the wood diffuses into the wine. Of course an old barrel doesn't have much flavor to contribute, but using products like StaVin and Vintage Alternatives in an old barrel is a cost effective way to get most of the way back to the effect of a new barrel.

Tom S