If you love wine, but don’t know much about the French wine regions, then you’re in the right place.
“My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece”
― Claude Monet
Appellations of Origin
Appellations of Origin to indicate the French wine regions where their grapes are grown. You have probably heard of a few of these like Bordeaux, Beaujolais, or the Rhone Valley.
This is something that has taken hold across European (EU) wines, but France was the first and has arguably the most complicated system.
History of the French Wine Regions
Let’s start with history to see how we got here. Of course, it all started with the marketing genius’ of France, the people of Champagne.
Near the end of the 19th Century, Champagne and France as a whole were having a tough time with phylloxera which wiped out all of Champagne’s beloved vines.
So the houses of Champagne banded together and in 1898, they formed the Association Viticole Champenoise (AVC).
They set out to make improvements since they were replanting anyways. They planted trained vines instead of the random plantings of the past. This reduced the hectares of vines by roughly 80% compared to pre-phylloxera times.
Next, the AVC won lawsuits that claim the name Champagne could only be used for wines harvested and produced in Champagne. How to enforce this was another issue entirely and something the people of Champagne worked hard to fix.
In 1927, laws were passed to establish Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier (the lesser-known grape contained in Champagne), and Chardonnay as the vines of Champagne.
Champagne was and still is a desirable, high priced product, so there was a lot of fraud going on. Labeling poor quality sparkling wines as “Champagne” to charge a higher price.
This was not only in Champagne but in other regions for table wine as well. This caused others around France to follow Champagne’s lead and push the government to create other designated regions and most importantly, a regulatory body.
French Wine Regions Are Born
On July 30th, 1935, the Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) board was created and AOC defined. They set out rules to define:
- The geographic area
- The grape varieties
- The growing methods allowed
- The wine making methods allowed
This may seem a bit strict, from a helicopter view it does seem that way, but this helped a lot to create a distinct wine from these french wine regions that consumers could count on when making purchases.
Sure we have our preferences in grapes, some of us always lunge for a Cabernet, but I’m sure you’ve had an unpleasant Cabernet. Well, these rules help to ensure a baseline quality.
Wine had quickly become a commodity and this was a way to differentiate the specialty wines on the market. Further, this allowed for a crackdown on fraud which helped these winemakers continue to make their historic wines.
These regulations have been expanded and better defined over time into today. That said, you can still make wines in these regions that do not conform to these rules, however, you cannot label your wine with the AOC label.
The easiest example of this is in Champagne. If you made wine from Shiraz, you would not be able to put Champagne on your label. To utilize the brand that the AOC brings to a wine label, the winemaker needs to follow all of the rules set by the AOC. In this case, it would be the grape varieties used.
Looking at French wines as a whole, roughly 50% of all wines are controlled appellation of origin. So there are still wines that are made outside of these regions or outside these rules within the regions.
Here is a map of what these regions look like:
The 50% of land outside of the AOC designation can be broken down further into two categories, Vin de Pays and ‘table wine’.
Vin de Pays translates to “wine of the countryside”, it sounds quite nice actually. This type of wine is allowed to have the varietal name on the label and a broad regional geographic name. This accounts for about 30% of all French wine and table wine is the remaining 20%.
Table wine is drunk early and locally. It also did not include varietal names until 2008.
From these two other categories, a lot of it can be found in the sunny south of France, within Languedoc, Provence and the southwest, which is 50% of all wine production in France, but only 21% of the wine actually comes from a designated AOC.
Why do we like AOC wine?
Since technology has allowed us to grow fruits and vegetables at a mass scale, this has flooded the market with grapes and wine. However, these grapes and especially the finished wine can have vastly different flavour profiles.
This is where we love the AOC. They help distinguish the flavour profile you as the consumer can expect in a wine.
The fruity, playful Beaujolais might be your wine of choice and isn’t it wonderful that you can have some expectation of getting that same standard every time you pick up a bottle of Beaujolais.
The AOC also safeguard their brand if you will, by working to keep imposters off the market. Sure this keeps competition limited and prices potentially higher, but I think its a price worth paying for consistency and quality in every bottle.
This is also helpful in that you’re not smashing back a bottle of wine every day, so when the occasion strikes, you want that bottle to be delicious and delightful for you and your friends.
Next, we will dig into the most noteworthy AOC regions within France which will make you a star at your next wine club meeting.