nir-vana innovation network

The French SME was founded in the late nineties, in the South West of France, with the aim of recycling wood from sustainably managed forests in order to innovate and produce a high-quality, high-performance oenological wood made from oak chips. The wood comes from French and American oaks. The French company is considered to be a pioneer in this activity in France, created almost ten years before the authorization to use oak chips, on finished wine, in the European Union. In 2011, the company joined a French family group that gathers a wood and oenology ecosystem from foresting, wine cooperage, stave milling, whisky and bourbon cooperage. The group has a strong international position. Thanks to its ecosystem, the company has a great knowledge of the wood supply source. The wood is carefully selected from suppliers who comply with strict raw material specifications. This is all the more important as the wood products are intended to come into contact with food products. The company guarantees the food safety through the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) and the quality management through its ISO 9001 certification. The products are also Kosher certified. Over the years, the company has developed two unique and different methods of heating and toasting the wood. The first method consists of roasting the wood and developing many aromas for the wood such as vanilla, caramel, coffee, cherry, chestnut toasted notes. The second method has been recently developed through a high-performance process and will help in the fermentation and ageing of the wine. The wood is considered as an oenological tool. Alongside the oenological tool, the company can offer a flavouring and smoking tool through a wide range of wood species that meet the needs of the food industry and in the use of smoking for the conservation of different products (meat, cheese, fish, vegetables). The company proposes wood products for: - oenology, especially for the wine fermentation and wine ageing; - beer: wood chips can be added at different stages: mashing, boiling, fermentation, maturation or storage; - spirits: especially for maceration, end of maturation and storage; - flavour/extracts and food smoking. The wood products are proposed in powder, extra small size chips and medium size chips, cubes, blocks and staves. There is a classification starting from untoasted (U), light toasted (L), medium toasted (M), heavy toasted (H). The products can be conditioned in different types of packaging from 10 kg paper bags or infusion bags, 20-25 kg paper bags, to bulk bags (350 up to 750 kg), 20 or 120 cardboard boxes (staves). Thanks to its high quality products, the company has developed markets throughout the world and is looking to expand its markets, especially in Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Serbia,Turkey, also in Albania, Bosnia, Slovakia, Kosovo, Montenegro and in Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway under a distribution services agreement or a commercial agency agreement.