Using genetic markers to trace oak wood barrels
Researchers at INRA Bordeaux-Aquitaine have identified new genetic markers and developed genotyping technology that can identify species and determine if a lot of oak wood matches its stated provenance. The technology is flexible, quick, accurate, and cost-effective. To make it available to wine-barrel industry stakeholders (forest managers, stave mills, coopers, winemakers), the technology will be transferred to the FCBA Technical Institute.
As a part of the Xyloforest Equipment of Excellence programme (French Stimulus Initiative), a more powerful and tamperproof next-generation genetic test was developed by researchers at INRA Bordeaux-Aquitaine. The test can check the provenance and species of oak wood used in the cooperage industry. It will be an effective deterrent against fraud and will promote traceability measures with wood industry stakeholders
The work of the OAKTRACK project is supported by the French National Research Agency (ANR) as a part of its Emergence programme. The project developed molecular tools to check the provenance of oak wood used in cooperage and then made these tools accessible to industry stakeholders. There were two components to the project: identifying species and determining geographic provenance. With this tool, forest and wood industry stakeholders have the means to certify their products or their supplies. Forest managers will be able to guarantee the species and geographic origin of their timber with a tamperproof DNA test. By identifying the oak species used, winemakers will be able to enhance the maturation process of wine and spirits through increased control of the aromatic properties of the wood used for their barrels.
To find the most effective genetic markers for identifying oak species and for assessing their geographic origin, a large number of DNA sequences were analysed from a wide range of samples characteristic of the genetic diversity of oak species. Once the most effective markers were identified, researchers then looked to develop genotyping technology for genetic identification using mass spectrometry. Mass spectrometry technology has a number of benefits; it is flexible, quick, accurate, and cost-effective. Two genetic marker kits were developed and designed to be used independently or in combination. The tests can definitively identify oak wood species and check the wood’s geographic origin against its stated provenance.
The tools are designed to meet the needs both of producers, who want to enhance the value of their oak wood, and users, who want to ensure the supplies they procure are accredited.
Meeting the challenges of the cooperage industry
The cooperage industry in France brings together approximately 65 cooperages, most of which are located in Poitou-Charentes and in Aquitaine, in southwest France. France is the world’s largest producer of barrels, accounting for 75% of production worldwide and generating a trade surplus of 300 million euro in 2012. The industry is growing because of France’s recognised expertise in cooperage, the emergence of new wine-producing countries, and the increased market for quality wine retailing for more than €10 a bottle. Coopers must also face serious challenges in terms of sluggish recovery in the European market, competition from wood chips used in winemaking, the need to move up market and to diversify, and the increasing difficulty in procuring suitable wood. For coopers, continual increases to the price of high-quality oak has a significant impact, given that raw materials represent approximately 50% of the cost of a traditional barrel (€500–€700). Timber auctions attract the interest of many coopers when lots of wood come up for sale reputed to come from the high forests of central France from 200–300 year-old trees with large, straight trunks and exceptionally fine grain. Market tensions of this kind may place pressure on the authenticity of wood provenance: foreign woods may be labelled as French; wood from well-known forests may be seen as suspect; and, relying on the lack of identifying characteristics in the wood, there may be inadequate efforts made to track oak species.
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