Mel Knox

Barrel Broker and Owner
Mel Knox Barrel Brokers, San Francisco

Interview by Diana H. Stockton

Mel Knox has been a barrel broker for almost thirty years and says that in that time barrels have gone from a small thing, cooperages with a small staff to real serious business. Nadalié, Demptos and Sirugue have sold barrels in the U.S. since before Mel can remember. Sirugue was once part of a confederation of cooperages calledTonnelleries de Bourgogne that included Meyer (now defunct), Damy, Billon (now owned by Damy), and Remond, which like Sirugue is no longer part of the group.When Dick Graff and others imported barrels from these cooperages, they found they liked Sirugue best and talked it into going independent. Sirugue came to dominate the aging of California Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and was especially strong south of San Francisco with wineries like Chalone, David Bruce, Edna Valley, Mount Eden, and Sanford & Benedict. François Frères started selling in the Bay Area around 1975,Taransaud about 1978; Seguin Moreau jumped in around 1981 along with a reorganizedTonnelleries de Bourgogne;Vicard and Dargaud et Jaeglé about 1983. Radoux, now in the same group as Seguin Moreau, followed. In 1985 Philippe Demptos asked why everyone in California was using stave wood from Limousin rather than Nevers (in France Limousin is preferred for Cognac and Brandy). Après that, recounts Mel, came le déluge: “Sylvain, Saury,Treuil, Boutes, Mercurey, Berthomieu (now Ermitage), Sansaud, Mercier, Berger, Darnajeu, and many, many others,” about 70 today.When Mel began, François Frères had ten coopers and a daily production of 20 barrels. It grew to 50 coopers producing 100 barrels daily. In 1989 François Frères bought all of Demptos France and half of Demptos Napa. In 1993 it bought the other half and now has barrel works in Australia, Hungary, Spain and Scotland as well and sells worldwide. Known primarily for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, François Frères has a legendary list of clients in Burgundy from its founding in 1910. It went public in 1999.

Mel got into the barrel business quite by chance. He says barrel demand rises and falls with the grape crop. Low yields in Burgundy of 1973, ‘74 and ‘75 encouraged Jean François of François Frères to send his American neighbor, BeckyWasserman, to the US for additional custom. Jean François also introduced Becky to his friend JeanTaransaud >as a source for barrels from Bordeaux. Becky came in the winter of 19791980 and stayed with the Knoxes. She no sooner arrived than she came down with flu. Mel offered to help, and in one week had three shipping containers’ worth of orders. Mel and Becky promptly became partners. A few years later Mel bought her out. Becky is a wine broker, selling wine worldwide from Burgundy and Mel, as Mel Knox Barrel Brokers, represents all the US for François Frères and theWestern US, Baja California and Canada forTaransaud.

Mel got to know California wines and wineries during a summer job at a wine and liquor store in Redwood City while at Stanford.This led to working at theWine and Cheese Center in San Francisco where Mel found being invited to tastings a lot more fun than going to law school as his mother had hoped. He sold wine for eight years, but says it can drive you bats (it gave him migraines) trying to come up with new ways to build excitement. He met lots of people, however, not only Becky but also principals from wineries like Clos duVal, Long, Joseph Phelps, and Stags LeapWine Cellars.

When Mel began in the business, UC Davis was advising that barrel fermentation was risky, even though Ric Forman and Dick Graff had been longtime advocates of fermenting Chardonnay only in barrel and Cabernet right after primary fermentation. Back then, red wine usually went into barrel after Christmas, even as late as May. Now, of course, it is quite normal for red wine to go into barrel for malolactic fermentation, a Northern California innovation gaining acceptance in France.Wines also used to be filtered before going into barrel. Mel says we have learned this makes really oaky wines so today some white wines do ferment in barrel. Mel also recalls that empty barrels were stored full of water when they should be stored empty to stay clean and moldfree. Barrels also used to be treated with soda ash but this simply removes their toast and does not purify them. Minimal barrel preparation practices are now the norm.

The most important qualities in selecting a barrel, according to Mel, are species of oak and airdrying. Period. Mel calls stave wood dried in a kiln, like whiskey barrel staves, pretty ghastly for wine because the oak still has lots of astringency. Airdrying for three winters is optimum, with staves spending two and a half years outside “where you cut it.” France and the American MidWest are much more humid than NapaValley, so enzymes and bacteria have a chance to release phenolics and liberate polysaccharides in the wood drying slowly on racks outdoors. Barrel selection should be based on what the winemaker is trying to achieve. Mel counsels that readiertodrink wines merit a lower percentage of new oak, airdried for two years and with prominent grain for flashiness.Wines that can be aged ten to fifteen years, the kind he jokes are made “from one grape per acre,” need barrels of threeyear wood with a tighter grain and spend eighteen months in barrel. It behooves the barrel broker to work very closely with each client at every vintage.