How it all started
In the early twentieth century, France was the first country to devise a national system for legally protecting and restricting the use of place-names for wine regions, as well as for other traditional agricultural products and going further than wine such as cheeses and olive oils. This system, administered nationally by the Institut Nationalde l'Origine et de la Qualite(this is is a new name that still goes by the old acronym INAO). This establishment became official in 1935 by a name of Joseph Capus.
French Wine Laws mandate or prohibit a variety of procedures for wineries that plan to use a protected appellation, or a place-name. The geographic boundaries of the named placed are defined, a list of approved grape varities for that place is given, and viticultural and winemaking practices are specified. Wines that do not meet the standards for the desired appellation must instead be labeled with another, usually larger, appellation, that's if they qualify for it or with a lower classification level.
Vin de Table or Vin de France - Entry level
Vin de Table or Vin de France or even just Vin(wine) is the entry level to French regulations and essentially refer to as table wines. Wines in this category have few specific regulations apart from those required for health, safety, and commercial trade. As long as all the grapes come from France, and that's including all 9 regions, the wine may be labeled as Vin de France.
Vin de Pays/Indication Géographique Protégée(IGP)
The next tier in the pyramid was formerly known as country wine(vin de pays) and it accounts for more than 1/3rd of French wine. In the new EU system, these are considered table wines with a protected geographical indication(PGI). The wines must be labled as Indication Géographique Protégée(IGP). Sometimes the wines are labled as a combination of "IGP-Vin de Pays." The few restrictions on these wine are at least 85% of the grapes must come entirely from within the boundaries of one of the delimited vin de pays regions. At this level, French winemakers may produce wines that compete directly with New World varietally-labled wines, such as in North America and South America. For example: A Bordeaux producer will slap the varietal Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot title on the front label to make it a little bit more easier on the consumer to know what they are buying, that's if they don't have someone like me in the store. There has been a great deal of change and consolidation but as of December 2020, there are a total of 76 IGP/vin de pays designations.
Indication Géographique Protégée or IGP category is subdivided into 3 levels of georgraphical specificity. From broadest to most specific, they are regional, departmental and zone. Here are the 8 regional IGP designations:
Pay's d'Oc IGP: the best-known of the IGP's covering the western part of the French Mediterraean coast.
Val de Loire IGP: Covering the Loire Valley and Chablis
Comtés Rhodaniens IGP: Covering the northern Rhône Valley and Savoie
Mediterranee IGP: Covering southeast France, including the Rhône Valley, Provence, and Corsica
Comté Tolosan IGP: Covering all of Southwest France(Cahors, Bergerac, Cognac & Armagnac(aka as Brandy in other parts of the world))
L'Atlantique IGP: Covering Bordeaux, Dordogne, and Charentais
Terres du Midi IGP: recently approved in mid-2018 for certain blended wines produced in the Languedoc-Roussillon
Ile-de-France IGP: recently approved in 2019, located in the north-central part of France(including the city of Paris)
There are 28 departmental IGPs whose boundaries match the political boundaries of a French department(county), some of which are located within the larger regional IGP areas. The other 40 IGPs, known as vin de pays de zone, are smaller, locally specific areas, often named after a historic or geographical feature.
Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée(AOC)
Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée("Name of controlled origin") is the top tier of the French wine classification pyramid which correlates with the EU's PDO tier(Protected Designation of Origin). To understand a little bit more about the PDO system, click here. Sometimes the name is shortened to just Appellation Contrôlée or AC. Under the new EU system, the term Appellation d'Origine Protégée(AOP) may also be used. This category includes the many great wines that France produces and carries with it's restrictive regulations that have been put into effect to ensure that French place-name indicates a wine of quality to consumers. There are more than 300 AOC's which produce just under half of all French wine!
Comments