Since the vintage-year 1997, the S.A. BILLON is a certified producer of " Barrels of French Tradition " (" Fût de Tradition Française "). This designation, developed in 1995 by the French Federation of Cooperage Trade (Fédération Française de la Tonnellerie) and authorized by the Wood Technical Centre (Centre Technique du Bois) in Paris, binds BILLON Cooperage to permanent control of the quality of its stave-wood and of its production in the traditional French Cooperage techniques.
Only the cooperages which are able to answer to all the requirements of technical regulations are permitted to use the designation.
The designation applies to several types of barrels subjected to specific characteristics : the Bordeaux barrel, the Burgundy barrel, barrels with volumes of 300, 350 and 400 litres. For each of them, technical specifications have been defined (size and quality characteristics, control of the constituents).
Qualitative characteristics such as the condition of the internal and external surface as well as the methods used for " heating " - necessary to bend staves - constitute the essential points of the specifications.
The stave wood must be seasoned a minimum of twelve months.
Moreover, the Wood and Furniture Technical Centre makes several visits of control per year. These checks concern the size and humidity level of stave-woods ; compliance and marking of barrels ; water-tightness ; traceability and control of stock records.
As to the origin of the wood, the regulations point out that label holders must know the source of stave-woods (country and origin). Quercus sessile and quercus pedunculate are taken into account. Holders of the designation also commit themselves to supply for each export of a lot of barrels a technical sheet which sets out the basic guideliness for the use of barrels.
Any certification implies an identification of the product : the label is identified by a logo which is branded on every certified barrel.
Developments
Philippe Ferro (FCBA representative) explains that " Over five years, adjustments of the technical system of reference have been carried out to correspond better to the customer's concerns. In this way, a reflection has been carried out to introduce - within the French Federation of Cooperage Trade - works on the possibility of identifying the geographical origin of wood from the chloroplastic DNA analysis ". Indeed, research within the general unit of INRA Bordeaux-Cestas (French institute for agronomy research) on the genetic variability of oak trees from this analysis has been carried out on the vegetative part of the tree.
This work offers encouraging prospects on the possibility of identifying the geographical origin of the wood. This will enable the verification of information linked to the product traceability and let us foresee the possibility of having a reliable means of identifying the origin of stave-woods.
For further information, refer to the FCBA website.
