Understanding French Wine

Image of French tricolour flag Understanding all the complexities of French wine is a subject too vast to cover in its entirety in a brief article such as this one. However as these categorisation are intended to demonstrate the quality of the wine. I will give an overview of what they mean to you the consumer.

When you look carefully at a bottle of French Wine you will see it is labeled either:

AOC - meaning "controlled term of origin"

Vin Du Pay - meaning "wine of the country"

Vin Du Table – meaning "table wine"

Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée AOC is generally considered to be the best quality followed by Vin Du Pays and then Vin Du Table.

What is AOC?

An AOC is an area (appellation) within a region where a wine is grown e.g. AOC Fleurie is within the Beaujolais region and AOC Medoc is within the Bordeaux region. The name of the AOC usually replaces “d’Origine” for example Appellation Fleurie Controlée or Appellation Medoc Controlée.

To be classified as AOC the wine’s production has to conform to the traditional methods of that appellation including grape types, irrigation methods, limits of production per hectare etc, the wine must even be aged within the designated AOC.

As an example in AOC Cotes Du Rhone, reds and rose wines will contain Syrah, Cinsault, Grenache Noir, Carignane, Mourvedre and Counoise grapes. Whites will contain a blend of a minimum 80% Voignier, Rousannem Bourboulenc, Rousanne, Grenache Blanc, Clairette, Masanne grapes.

AOC Villages

There are then hierarchies within an appellation. Wines a little further up this quality scale from the ordinary AOCs will be called Villages. So with a Rhone you can have a Cotes Du Rhone Villages. This again has its own further subset of rules – the Grenache grape has to make up to a minimum of 50% of the wine with 20% Syrah and/or Mourvedre. They must also contain a minimum of 12% alcohol.

AOC Named Villages

Then you have Cotes Du Rhone Villages <Named Village> with the actual village names e.g. Cotes Du Rhone Villages – Seguret. There are 18 of these within the Cotes Du Rhone Villages. Again these have a further subset of rules they must comply with.

AOC Crus

At the very top are the Crus. There are a total of 15 Crus and these do not have to include the name ‘Cotes Du Rhone’. Perhaps the most famous Cru in Rhone is Chateauneuf-du-Pape. You will never see Cotes Du Rhone on the label of a Chateauneuf-du-Pape. So to summarise, within AOC you have:

Crus (Premier and Grand)
Named Villages
Villages
Regional Appellation

Whilst I have cited Cotes Du Rhone in an attempt to keep it simple, the above categorisations can loosely be applied to wine regions across the whole of France, however the French don’t like to keep anything too simple, so there are further subtle variations from region to region, which perhaps deserves another article in its own right!

Why use this system?

You may think this is all rather complicated especially if you compare with new world wines, where the wine maker and the grapes are shown predominantly on the label. Attention to the region often is minimal, mostly because they cover vast areas huge in comparison to the tiny AOCs. In addition new world wines could contain any combination of grape and production method. Some new world producers will even add wood chips to the wine to encourage an oaky taste; this is to the abject horror of the French!!

Inevitably new world wines producers have also found that particular grapes grow well in regions with particular weather conditions and soil types i.e. Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir having a particularly good reputation from the Marlborough and Martinborough regions of New Zealand respectively. The latter producing Pinot Noirs that are second best to only the finest of Burgundies.

This leads as on to why the French use this system. If one sees a White Burgundy it will be a Chardonnay. The French do not see the need to label the grape predominantly, as White Burgundy on the a label will demonstrate to the drinker that a) the wine is made from the Chardonnay grape, b) it will be of certain quality as it comes from an area where the weather conditions and soil type (terrior) are particular conducive to the Chardonnay grape. Incidentally a Red Burgundy will be made from the Pinot Noir grape. The AOC aims to ensure high standards by ensuring only wines produced using certain grapes and production methods are allowed the accolade of being labelled an AOC.

“Terrior”

The French refer to these unique conditions as "terrior", the word doesn’t have a single word English translation but refers to the overall geographical conditions to grow grapes that produce great wines.

Vin Du Pays

The Vin Du Pays method of identification is similar, however the Vin Du Pays regions are much larger and the rules around grapes and methods that can be used are less stringent. Vin Du Pays sprang up in 1973 as a result of competition from the New World wines.

There is no reason why a Vin Du Pays in should be of lower quality than an AOC. Indeed Vin Du Pays allow the producer more freedom with grape varieties and progressive production methods without having to use the low regarded Table Wine classification, which only means the wine was produced in France. Indeed there are many great Vin Du Pays wines, many of which you will find reviewed on this website. Both AOC and Vin Du Pays wine carry a geographical designation of origin, use certain grapes and are tasted for quality, so if you see Vin Du Pays there is no reason to doubt its quality will be any less than an AOC.

That is a very high level overview of French wine classifications. One thing I haven’t touched in this article is how all this affects the actual wine labels on French wine bottles. I think I will save this for another time though!