16/03/2022

Founded by Nicholas Karavidas, Felxcube West is a game-changing innovation in the winemaking industry. Creating the next generation of barrels, it is an advanced wine aging vessel that helps in achieving luxury wine quality, efficiency, space, and huge cost savings. It was established in 2021 while there was a major shortage of oak barrels happening across the world due to the supply chain issues during the pandemic. An advanced polymer-based wine maturation vessel, it impersonates the process of aging that takes place in oak barrels however with few uncontrollable variables. This allows you to save on space, water, and also be environmentally conscious at the same time. It uses up 1.2 x 1.2 meters of space, 10% of the water used to clean oak barrels, and only 1 oak tree against 13 used to make an oak barrel.

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Holding a patent for the polymers and the vessel technology, they offer unsurpassed technology which has been acknowledged by the Australian government, the University of Adelaide, and the numerous enology professors across the globe. Flexcube West works with some of the renowned wineries across the globe and holds a strong network of support managers and technical consultants that work in precision with winemakers. With the mission to open up new possibilities for the winemakers, their equipment is designed to deliver the same wine quality as the most exemplary traditional barrels. They focus on blending the most recent innovations in winemaking with their capabilities by separating the elements of oak and oxygen while increasing consistency.

Nicholas Karavidas, Founder and Owner of Flexcube West; Image Source - Linkedin

Future Drinks Expo 2022 which is going to be held at South San Francisco Center on May 17, 2022, is a great opportunity for you to connect with Flexcube West and learn more about the new ways of aging wine while saving on cost. Get Your Visitors Pass here!

By using the same genuine barrel oak, they have brought in an evolution in the shape by simply not bending the oak. This allows the contact surface to be increased and allows the wine to embody every single side of the oak stave including the end. The technology allows the wine to flow through the tube along the full length of the stave which perfectly nourishes the wine with the aromas of the oak. This results in an optimal and precise oak maturation. 

What does Flexcube West offer?

Flexcube

Bringing a transition in the compact modular design, Flexcube is a maturation cube that is patent-protected and made from food-grade, and oxygen permeable polymer material. It is a highly innovative oxygen permeable polymer shell. The wine that is matured in these cubes gets a consistent flow of oxygen that is needed to develop its full character. 

Flexcube; Image Source - The wine firm

It is built-in with a purpose-built neck, lid, and a locking ring that ensures there is no leakage of wine or gas. A catch bottle has been fitted with a one-way valve that holds the wine or gas that is expelled from the maturation cube. A recessed sampling tap along with a 50mm discharge tap has been attached to the cube which simplifies the sampling of wine. With the drain sump attached inside the cube, all the wine drains out conveniently.  

BarriQ and LBarriQ

Focussing on the oenological properties of oak, BarriQ is oak staves that are used in the Felxcube wine maturation vessel. The oak which is used in traditional oak barrels only allows the wine to be in contact with 3 to 5 mm of it which is less than 20% of the total barrel oak amount. 

However, with these oak staves, the wine is completely in contact with it due to its right positioning in the cube. The BarriQ and LBarriq are two ranges of oak staves and come in several varieties depending on the origin of the oak.

LBarriQ Oak Staves, Image Source - Flex cube group

BarriQ

 - Jupilles

 - Tronçais

 - Lafayette

 - French

 - American

 - Russian

LBarriQ

 - Bordeaux

 - Burgundy

 - Northern Rhone

 - Southern Rhone

Flexhire

For the convenience of winemakers, Flexhire is an option to hire Felxcube on monthly basis. Unreliable external elements like the fluctuation in yields or unforeseen circumstances can cause the winemaker to incur huge losses, which is why Flexhire seems like a good option for small-scale wineries that do not want to invest in equipment yet. It helps in managing storage fluctuations, offers Flexcube’s in-house operation, preserves the capital while spreading your costs, and can also allow you to use new oak in every vintage. It also gives you the flexibility to return it when it is no longer required. 

Flexcube West is exhibiting at the Future Drinks Expo 2022 which is happening on May 17, 2022, at South San Francisco Conference Center. Get Your Visitors Pass for the 2022 Future Drinks Expo and meet them along with many other companies that will help you become a pioneer in moving the drinks industry forward.