Our decision support tools: simple, and in your pocket
Three online calculators, free and with no sign up, gathered on a single page, AMEDEE Lab, and built from the questions people ask us on the phone. Here is what they do, and what their numbers rest on.
For years we answered the same family of questions, one tank at a time: how many chips for 150 hL, does this fourth fill barrel still bring anything, how long a contact time for an 18 mm stave. We ended up putting these calculations online rather than redoing them by hand. That is all these tools are: our own reference points, made available from a phone in the cellar.
Three tools, three questions
| Tool | The question it handles | What it gives back |
|---|---|---|
| Barrel diagnosis | Does this barrel still give anything? | An estimate of the remaining life, and a number of 22 mm sticks to add: in wine, 4 for the equivalent of a 1 wine barrel, 8 for the equivalent of a new barrel |
| Oak dosage simulator | What would this oak treatment look like in tank? | A comparison of formats and durations: 4 months minimum for a 7 mm stave, 7 months minimum for an 18 mm stave |
| Drop by drop trial | What does this tannin do to my wine, today? | A small volume trial protocol, with an answer in one hour |
Where the displayed numbers come from
From three sources: the oenological theses we follow, the field feedback of our partner oenologists, and our own technical sheets and measurements, made on our oak air dried for 36 months. The barrel diagnosis starts, for example, from an observation we have repeated for a long time: a barrel releases about 60 % of its oenological capital in the first year. The rest follows from the age of the barrel, its history and the profile you are aiming for.
So these are averages. They were established in our conditions, not in yours. What is measured well in the lab is measured poorly in a 300 hL tank in October, and we know neither your cellar temperature, nor your maceration time, nor the exact state of your barrels.
What should you do with the result?
Take it as a starting point for discussion, not as an instruction. The tool suggests, it does not settle. In practice, what we find most useful is to use it as a factual base: you show up at your consulting oenologist with a written number and a hypothesis, rather than with a hunch. The result can be taken away as a report, which helps keep track of a trial from one year to the next.
We would rather say it plainly: a calculator does not replace a tasting. On a tannin, the drop by drop trial will teach you more in one hour than any simulation. On an oak treatment in tank, a small test volume is worth more than a projection on the whole batch.
And if the number is wrong at your place?
It happens, and it is the part of the work that interests us most. We keep correcting these models with the feedback that reaches us, because every cellar that reports a gap to us teaches us something our internal trials do not show. If a result looks wrong to you, write to us: we would rather correct a number than defend it.
Read next : Choosing the Right Oak Barrel Alternative for Your Wine · Chips, staves or barrel inserts: how to choose