Product Info

African Cork Suppliers Provides solutions to the South African wine industry enhancing the best quality products from around the world.

Barrels, Bottles, Capsules, Chemicals, Clarifications and Stabilization Aids, Corks, Crown corks, Filter, Aids, Oak Chips, Oak Extracts, Screw cap, Sundry Corks, Synthetic Closures, Tannins, Tartaric Acids, Wire hoods, Yield Cultures. Other products such as Cork Flooring & Tiles, and Miscellaneous.

Barrels

• Tonnellerie Billon

African Cork Suppliers have been supplying oak barrels to the South African market for 20 years. We are privileged to announce our association with the esteemed cooperages of TONNELLERIE BILLON and TONNELLERIE DAMY.

Although no strangers to the South African market we look forward to bringing our service and commitment to their barrel successes.

TONNELLERIE BILLON, situated in Beaune since 1947, is experiencing a renaissance under the guidance of owner Vincent Damy, the third generation in a family of coopers. Vincent Damy oversees 22 coopers and an annual production of 12,000 barrels.

Combining a respect for tradition with new technology, the cooperage has succeeded in building a solid reputation, as strong internationally as it is within France. The systematic professional training, qualification and the experience of our team have made TONNELLERIE BILLON a responsible, responsive and ambitious company. As an example of the professionalism, TONNELLERIE BILLON accurately records the origin of its wood used in its splitting workshop. It also benefits from the services of a full time specialist in stave-wood.

What makes the TONNELLERIE BILLON special is the quality of aromas and subtleties their barrels bring to red wines.

Founded in Nantoux in 1946, TONNELLERIE DAMY is a three generation family owned company now managed by Jérôme Damy.

Damy is located on the outskirts of Meursault.

TONNELLERIE DAMY moved into their new facilities 5 years ago, which allowed them to combine traditional barrel making and high technology.

The Damy name is well known around the world for aging some of the great wines of Meursault. Their style is a perfect match with barrel-fermented whites, particularly Chardonnay. This is why you will find Damy barrels in more than 78% of all “Domaine” wine cellars in Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet.

Key Figures :

Facility: 4 ha

Covered Space: 4500m²

Average production: 100/day – 22000/year

Worldwide known among wine producers – over a 1000 wineries around the world

French oak selection: Allier, Vosges, Nèvers, Tronçais

The Tonnellerie has a 2ha stave yard where they can leave the staves to go through a natural drying process for at least 24 months.

This process aims to: - Reduce humidity in the wood to lower it down to 14-15% - Extract components which would badly affect the wine during the wine making process - Raise the potential of aromatic components - and assure the barrels are impermeable

Range of products

Being in Meursault the Great White Burgundy Area, TONNELLERIE DAMY has mastered making barrels that perfectly fit with what is expected from Chardonnay in this region. TONNELLERIE DAMY looks for the best combination of wood/varietal to match the customer's style of wine.

The Damy name is well known around the world for aging some of the great wines of Meursault. Their style is a perfect match with barrel-fermented whites, particularly Chardonnay. This is why you will find Damy barrels in more than 78% of all wine cellars in Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet.

Damy on Chardonnay brings an integration of the wood in wine and enhances a creaminess and roundness in the wine. Its style is sweeter and is often referred to as a crème brulee finish. The cooperage offers a light long toast; very light almost blonde in colour. Technically the barrel stays for a minimum of an hour on embers, creating more work as the coopers have to turn the barrel around more often to get an even toasting. In terms of aromas the flavour profile is associated with fresh butter, fresh almonds, very light vanilla and less fatness.

As a result, the wines aged in these barrels won on freshness and tightness. The fruit is very well respected and does not get overwhelmed by the wood/toasting. As always the aim of Damy is to support the wine/fruit instead of hiding it with woody/toasty aromas. There recommendation is for you to try their Allier Oak, which is quite neutral. This oak respects the original characteristics of the vine variety. It also adds a little sugary taste in the mouth especially on chardonnay. Allier is also recommended on Sauvignon Blanc with a light toasting so that it doesn't affect the varietal aromatic characteristics.

It also does great on Chenin Blanc with a medium toasting for a 10 to 12 months ageing. A customer of theirs in the Côtes du Rhône region uses a medium plus toasted Allier oak on Syrah with a 16 months ageing to obtain a notably well flavoured wine.

Vosges Oak at the opposite end is a more tannic oak and depending on the toasting will deliver spicy to toasted flavours to red varietals such as Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Oak from the Nevers area, having a not very tight grain, brings freshness to the wine and allows for long ageing: 16 to 18 months on Cabernet Sauvignon for instance.

It would also be recommended for light Pinot Noir. TONNELLERIE DAMY also uses Tronçais oak, a rare very tight grain oak best used for high priced wines with long maturation.

As mentioned earlier, the TONNELLERIE DAMY also uses oak from Eastern Europe which brings very peculiar menthol aromas and aromatic complexity. As for the American Oak, it would be better used on red varietals with a 6 to 8 months ageing.

Awards

TONNELLERIE DAMY and TONNELLERIE BILLON have been awarded the CTB Certificate delivered by the Comité Technique du Bois in France which qualifies their barrels as "Fûts de Tradition Française" (Barrels traditionally made in French Style).

This label actually certifies that all stages of the barrel making process were subject to a very specific control so that it responds to high quality requirements. Of the more than 40 cooperages in France, only 8 cooperages have been certified by CTB.

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. 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 Philippe Ferro (CTBA 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 CTBA website.

Recommended varietals for use with Damy barrels:

Chardonnay and other barrel-fermented whites such as Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc

Pinot Noir and other reds, particularly when a round, creamy texture is desired

Both Tonnelleries offer a wide range of products with a choice of oak from various regions of France: Burgundy, Allier, Vosges, Cher, Center of France, Limousin, Nevers, and the famous Tronçais, as well as American and Hungarian oak.

Bottles

African Corks Suppliers brings to South Africa the best bottles from around the world. We can supply you with more than 50 bottles designs for wine, sparkling wine, beer and spirits.

• Burgundy
• Champaign
• Claret
• Screw cap
• Magnum Bordeaux
• Spirit Bottles
• Beer

Capsules

• PVC Capsules
• Polylaminate Capsules
• Champagne Capsules

Chemicals

Perdomini

• Blastosel FR95, Perdomini
• Blastosel Kappa, Perdomini
• Blastosel Grand Cru, Perdomini
• Ecobiol (Bioenovation), Perdomini
• Ovoclar, Perdomini
• Ferroblock, Perdomini
• Zimopec P110L, Perdomini
• Zimopec PXL, Perdomini
• Xiles 30, Perdomini
• Readygum, Perdomini
• Instant Gel, Perdomini
• Penny Vasche
• Thiamine, Institute Oenology of Champagne
• Chromofix, Perdomini
• Metacremor, Perdomini
• Cristal Calcium, Perdomini
• Pentagel, Perdomini – Bentonine Colloidale Selezionata
• Cristal Cremor, Perdomini

• Alfa P, Perdomini – Chiarificante Stabilizante Pluricomposto ad Azione Sinergica
• Tartarico Naturale, Distillerie Donollo Sp.A
• Benthon Extra, Perdomini
• Carbone, Perdomini - Decolorante super attivo
• Diapol VB, Perdomini
• Actibiol, Perdomini
• Mixgel, Perdomini
• Tetracomplex, Perdomini
• Caseo Cel, Perdomini
• Drenopor M, Perdomini
• Drenopor S, Perdomini
• Diapol Super MV, Perdomini