THE DOMAINE BERTAUD BELIEU ENHANCES THE VALUE OF CORK FROM THE VAR REGION.

In the past, the traditional use of cork as a raw material was mainly for the construction of beehives, roofing elements or net floats. The manufacture of cork stoppers thus gives rise to a new activity which will prove to be extremely fruitful and will constitute an essential element of the Provençal rural industry. it has enabled an economic boom which gave new life to these small forest villages of the Haut Var, hit hard by the abandonment of traditional agriculture and the disappearance of silk spinning mills.

CHRONOLOGY OF CORK

The properties of cork and its bark have always been recognised by man. In Ancient Greece, the cork oak embodied the symbol of freedom and honour. Its leaves and branches were used to crown victorious athletes. Cork was used mainly to seal amphoras or to make fishing tackle. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Portuguese shipbuilders favoured ultra-resistant cork oak wood. In the 17th century, in France, the Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon used cork to stopper the famous champagne that bears his name. In the 19th century, the first cork stopper machine was patented in the United Kingdom. In the 20th century, cork is used in the automobile and army sectors. In the 1950s, the first agglomerated cork flooring was invented. Today, cork is used in fields as diverse and varied as architecture, decoration, fashion, design... This material has many advantages: light, waterproof, elastic and compressible, rotproof, fire-resistant, it is also an excellent thermal and acoustic insulation 100% natural, biodegradable and recyclable.

TREASURE OF THE VAR FORESTS

With its 58,000 hectars of cork oak forests, the Var is France's leading suburban region. The tree thrives in the siliceous environments of Provence: les Maures, l'Estérel, la Colle du Rouet au Muy, le Tanneron and some areas around Toulon. At the beginning of the 20th century, in our department, approximately 10,000 tons of cork were raised each year to feed the production of nearly 200 cork stopper factories. With the liberation, the Varois cork stopper suffered during the crisis by the competition of Spain and Portugal. Today 52% of the world production of cork comes from Portugal, France represents only 1,1% of the market.

FROM THE GROWING OF CORK OAKS TO THE MANUFACTURE OF CORKS

With an axe and very meticulously they harvest the bark in an ancestral and artisanal way. The very delicate operation takes place at least every nine years, when the oak is mature, and is carried out during the active growth phase, so as not to "injure" the tree or worse, kill it by damaging the mother layer. After the cork is harvested, about ten steps are necessary for its transformation into cork. It is boiled in large vats, before being stabilised, i.e. left to rest to reach the right consistency. The cork boards are then cut into strips, then tubed and subjected to a series of transformations to enable the cork to become a bottle cork. During the marking stage, the cork is personalised with fire or ink and a batch number. For 93% of Americans, 84% of Chinese and 87% of French, the bottle cork remains an irreplaceable marker of quality (Opinion Way study of 2017).