Swiss researchers can tell chips from barrels

[Don Giovanni]

This will help you all out.... I just found this out....hot off the press..

Switzerland, April 2nd 2007

Swiss researchers can tell chips from barrels

by Othmar Stäheli and Yves Paquier

It has been determined by you can Scientifically tell the difference due to the chemical

based on the percentage of empyreumatic compounds in the wine, which are different in chips and casks because of the way the latter are toasted.

So now we know the truth, chips are not the same as barrels as many manufacturers of chips are telling the people in and out of the industry. What they will have to do is go back to the drawing board and formulate chips with more empyeumatic compounds and figure out just how long for each toast the treatment should be to achieve 100 new oak.