Appellation d'Origine Contr?lée (AOC)
AOC, the highest level of French wine, is a French term meaning "Appellation d'Origine Contr?lée". The grape varieties, the number of plants, the vinification process and the alcohol content of the region of origin are all certified by experts. Only grapes grown in the region of origin can be used to make the wine, and it can never be blended with the juice of grapes grown elsewhere.
AOC accounts for about 53.4% of the total production of French wines. Bottle labels are labeled as
Appellation+Appellation+Contr?lée, e.g. Appellation Bordeaux
Contr?lée. In August 2009, a reform took place. AOC wines became AOP wines.
Appellation d'Origine Contr?lée (AOC)
Value D'Origine Quintessence (VDQS)
A shortened version of the VDQS, which is the level of wine that must be passed through in order for an ordinary regional wine to move up to the AOC level. If the quality of the wine is good during the VDQS period, it will be upgraded to AOC, which accounts for only 0.9% of France's total wine production.
Bottle labels are labeled Appellation+Appellation+Vin Délimité de Qualité Superieure.
Regional Table Wine
English
Wine of
Country, the best of the best in the everyday table wine category is promoted to Regional Table Wine. Regional wines can be labeled with an appellation. It can be blended with the juice of grapes from the labeled appellation, but only grapes from that appellation. It accounts for about 33.9% of France's total wine production. Bottle labels are labeled as Vin de Pays + appellation, e.g., Vin de Pays
d'Oc. The vast majority of France's regional wines come from the southern Mediterranean coast. In August 2009, the classification of French wines was reformed in line with the European labeling of agricultural products
VDP wines became IGP wines. But an official survey this week found that while IGP wines account for 30 percent of all French wine consumption, 74 percent of consumers said they were unfamiliar with the term
"IGP" as a rating term. In France, there are 35,000 vineyards that can be rated as IGP, producing 1.2 billion liters and nearly 1.6 billion bottles of wine annually, accounting for one-fourth of the country's total wine production.
IGP wines are subject to strict regulations on appellation, soil type, climate, maximum yield and grape variety, and can be rated as "IGP" only if they follow the stringent winemaking standards and are approved by the French government and the European Commission. Only those wines that follow the strict winemaking standards and are approved by the French government and the European Commission can be labeled as "IGP" wines.
Currently, most French wines tend to use VDP rather than IGP on their labels.
Regional Table Wine Label
Daily Table Wine
English
Wine of the
table is the lowest-grade wine for daily consumption. It can be blended from grape musts of different regions, and if the musts are limited to the French regions, it can be called a French table wine. It is not allowed to use grape juice from countries outside of Europe
The wine, which accounts for about 11.7% of France's total production, is labeled as Vin de France. Bottle labels are labeled as Vin de Table, e.g. Vin de Table Fran?ais.
Most
New amendment (6 October 2009) The French Parliament resolved on 6 October 2009 that, with the reform of the Organization of the French Wine Industry*** and the introduction of a new category of Vin de
France, which is free of varietals and vintages, it would be better to use a new category of Vin de Table Fran.
France.
DEFRANCE, Vin De
Table and the "T" in L'ANIVIT were all changed to L'ANIVIN with the creation of a new category, L'ANIVIT (the French national trade association for everyday table wines and local table wines). The "T" in "Table" and "L'ANIVIT" will disappear. The name of VDT will be changed to VDF (Vin de
France), and all VDPs in the EU will be renamed as IGPs after August 1, 2009.