Oak Trees - From the Cotswolds to Charente
Anyone with a passing familiarity with British history and traditions probably knows that the oak tree is a hugely important cultural symbol. It is the UK’s national tree and represents strength, longevity, justice, knowledge and honour. But the close human relationship with the oak dates back far further than Britain’s national history.
Oaks, more than any other tree species, paved the way for the colonisation of the Middle East and Europe by humans around 45-50 thousand years ago. They provided food, medicine, fuel, shelter and art for settlers and, in return, humans planted more and more oaks to maintain the symbiotic relationship.
As the seed of an oak tree, an acorn is a symbol of growth and potential. On a practical level, acorns have also been a valuable foodstuff for both humans and animals. Indeed, the correlation of the northward spread of human and oak populations, as the temperature increased following the last ice age, suggests that acorns were a significant foodstuff for humans at this time.
“The shared history of humans and oaks also generated cultural and emotional relationships that translated into symbols or were incorporated into religious beliefs and mythology.” - Oak symbolism in the light of genomics, Thibault Leroy, Christophe Plomion and Antoine Kremer
When Wild & Fine won the Blenheim Palace Startup Competition in 2019, part of our pitch to the judges involved developing a design based on the Ancient Oaks at Blenheim, which were just a few miles down the road from the Wild & Fine studio at that time. These trees are not generally accessible to the public, but we were allowed to visit them (under supervision, of course) whilst we were brainstorming the new design. The Blenheim Estate is home to the most significant collection of ancient oak trees anywhere in Europe. It is understood that High Park, a centuries-old area of the estate, was originally created by King Henry I in the 12th century, as part of a royal deer park. Oak trees make up approximately 90% of this historic woodland and at least 60 of these oaks were saplings in the Middle Ages.
Even on the drizzly, misty autumn day we stopped by to see Blenheim’s ancient oaks, it was such a privilege to stand under their huge canopies and think about all the things they must have seen in their hundreds of years growing in that spot. Inspired by the long heritage and continued significance of these trees, Jess came up with a number of ideas for the Blenheim collection, and we were working with the senior buying team at Blenheim to decide which designs should go into production when Covid-19 hit and the whole project had to be shelved.
The Significance of Oak Trees to the Charente Region
As Jess settled in Charente and began working on a new studio space that was to become Wild & Fine’s new home and the workshop for the Cognac Jewellery School, it became apparent that oak trees were as significant to her new home as they had been back in the Cotswolds.
Located in the heart of the Charente region, north of Bordeaux, Wild & Fine’s new home is surrounded by the vineyards that produce the grapes for Cognac. The production of Cognac is strictly regulated and it must be produced to very specific standards if it is to earn its ‘Cognac’ badge.
One of the stipulations in the ageing process of Cognac is that the ‘eau de vie’ (which translates to ‘water of life’ and refers to the fermented and double distilled unaged brandy) is aged in oak casks made specifically from trees grown in the forests of either Limousin or Troncais. Limousin oak is medium grained, harder and more porous than Troncais oak. Limousin oak casks create robust flavours and extracts more tannins, whereas Troncais oak casks produce softer Cognacs, as the wood is darker, softer, finer grained and has more lignin and fewer tannins.
The trees felled for Cognac barrels have to be at least 100 years old and the centre and outside of the trunk are unsuitable for use in barrel making. In fact, only 20% of the felled tree will be used by the cooper to make the ‘merrains’ (planks) for barrel making. Once the merrains have been cut from the oak they have to be left outside to age for 3 years before they can be made into barrels. During this time the elements will work their magic and the bitter flavours of the new wood will mellow to become sweet, vanilla-like ones that can be imparted to the eau-de-vie that is aged inside.
Once the planks have been aged, they are cut into staves and assembled into casks, which involves repeatedly heating and moistening them to make them malleable enough to bend into shape. The casks are then lightly toasted in a process known as ‘bousinage’, which assists in the breakdown of the oak wood compounds and brings out the natural flavours of the wood.
Like their earliest ancestors, the inhabitants of Charente are keen to maintain their symbiotic relationship with the oak tree and both the Limousin and Troncais forests are meticulously managed, so that Cognac production can continue its time-honoured traditions in perpetuity.
The oak’s continued - if contrasting - significance in Charente made it entirely reasonable to revive the Wild & Fine oak designs and add the Cognac chapter to their story too. Anyone who has followed Wild & Fine for a little while will know that one of our favourite things about precious metal jewellery is its longevity and its ability to tell a story. Most of a design’s story is written after it leaves the studio and becomes part of its new owner’s life adventures, so we were pretty excited that one of our designs has added to its story at the development stage in this way, especially as it so closely resembles the story of the brand itself.
Our brand imagery is based on the seahorse designs that formed the core of the Wild & Fine range when it first launched. However, as the Wild & Fine narrative progresses, it feels as though the oak leaf and acorn designs are more appropriate symbols of the journey we have been on so far.
