Preserve and enhance biodiversity

Through this approach, Tonnellerie Baron guarantees uniterrupted monitoring of certified raw material from the forest to the customer.

Our common sense guides us towards an environmental policy that is permanent, to guarantee the longevity and quality of our products, and also the work of the men and women who produce them.

For this reason, we are choosing from 2018 onward to take a number of concrete actions in support of the preservation of the environment and commit our responsibility to our employees, our customers and the generations of tomorrow.

Going through the forests for the selection of our oaks throughout the year, we feel fully concerned by their renewal and ensuring their preservation as part of our heritage and legacy, as well as for biodiversity

In order to contribute to the sustainable management of forest resources, Tonnellerie Baron undertakes to respect the strict rules set by the international PEFC program.

This certification offers our customers the assurance that our PEFC wood comes from sustainably managed forests, and also testifies to our concern for transparency and preservation of the environment.

An ecological study was conducted in 2018 and revealed the location of protected areas around the site. We then created a biodiversity reservoir called the “Forêt des Landes” and “Bocager System”, in the heart of our temperate ocean climate conducive to the preservation of local flora and the reintroduction of extinct fauna.

The planting of indigenous species, the installation of nesting boxes and feeders, a bat roost, an insect house, aromatic spiral walls … see the light of day with the help of neighboring schools that come lend strong hands.

Information and awareness panels present the biodiversity of the site, the facilities and management put in place, all with a pedagogical vocation and a real interest in preserving the environment.

Membership in the Plantation for the Future Endowment Fund reinforces the current action plan. Having become a patron in January 2018, Tonnellerie Baron will now participate each year in the reforestation of 8 hectares of forest, or 1,800 m3 of wood produced, the equivalent of 1,400 tonnes of CO2 or 18 full time jobs in the forestry sector. For each barrel manufactured, we replant one oak.

The energy autonomy of the production site is a new ambition completed in 2019.

With an installation capable of delivering very soon 350 kWhc, green electricity production year round will be equivalent to the consumption of the cooperage. Green energy is used by employees who benefit from electric vehicles for commuting.

The historic production site of Tonnellerie Baron, located in Les Gonds, Charente-Maritime, has undergone in 150 years many evolutions to encourage the enlargement of its production. 15,000 barrels are produced per year currently. The maximum production capacity will be limited to 18,000 barrels going forward in order to balance environmental and societal parameters.

The coopers of Tonnellerie Baron are inspired daily by the desire to minimize the carbon footprint of their activity and by the will to open the way to the new generations.

To preserve and enhance biodiversity at the heart of its production site, on which 60 people work every day, Tonnellerie Baron has dug a pond of 3,000 m2 in 2016 to recover wastewater from the irrigation of its stavewood. The filtered waters join the Charente river flowing at the edge of the site. In addition to the landscaped aspect enhancing the quality of the workplace (new refectory and seminar room on the edge of a pond, landscaped gardens, preservation of green spaces), the creation of the water plan guarantees lifesafety in case of an emergency fire.

This first step was followed by the creation of a wildlife refuge developed by the ” Protection League of Birds” Company and offers the cooperage access to the first network of ecological gardens in France.

An ecological study was conducted in 2018 and revealed the location of protected areas around the site. We then created a biodiversity reservoir called the “Forêt des Landes” and “Bocager System”, in the heart of our temperate ocean climate conducive to the preservation of local flora and the reintroduction of extinct fauna.