Grand Cru, Premier Cru, Village. Limits on grape yields, varieties, additives, and methods of agriculture. Including even whether farmers are allowed to water their vineyards, the requirements of the AOC (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlé) label are extremely strict, regulating almost every aspect of winemaking from the vineyard to the bottle.
France seems to love her rules, and it’s not hard to imagine the extra hurdles that regulations such as these impose on vignerons who want their wine to be properly certified. But as one of the oldest and most complex classification systems in the world, staying ahead of the requirements is a source of significant expense.
Why is France so strict about all this stuff?
For that we look to France’s National Institute of Origin and Quality, or INAO, the government organization charged with overseeing the AOC laws.
A Bit of Background
To understand the mandate of INAO, and why France regulates wine production so strictly, it helps to look at the historical context in which these regulations first came into effect.
The roots of France’s current AOC laws date back to the phylloxera crisis of the late 19th century, when an insect pest brought over from the US decimated European wine production.
The resulting shortages left a huge unmet demand for wine, a vacuum that was filled both by fraudsters selling all sorts of adulterated beverages under the label of “wine” (adding things like beet juice, dried raisins, water, sugar, colorants, and worse to bulk up volume) as well as merchant importers bringing in wine from abroad.
In order to limit the spread of counterfeit wine, a nuisance to basically everyone, France put in place a law defining wine as a product to be made only from the alcoholic fermentation of fresh grapes. Thus, the first step on the road to the AOC was taken.
Eventually, France recovered from the phylloxera crisis. Improvements in agricultural methods resulted in higher yields than ever before, and improvements in storage technology meant that much of this wine could be held onto rather than being distilled into spirits.
But that didn’t stop the commercial import of foreign wines. These continued to pour into France, resulting in massive oversupply and plummeting wine prices.
To protect domestic winemakers, France instituted a law in 1905 requiring merchants to disclose where their wines came from. In 1907, a further law was passed protecting the place of origin for French wines, meaning that only wines produced locally could use the name of their region, cutting out blends made in part with foreign grapes.
Over the decades, these laws became more and more comprehensive, expanding to include regulations on yields and production methods in addition to place of origin.
In 1935 the National Institute of Origin and Quality (INAO) was created to administer these laws, given a mandate to define and delimit appellations, prevent overproduction, and prosecute illegal use of appellations.
AOC Regulations Today
The AOC laws were first instituted to eliminate fraud and protect the quality and reputation of French wine. But today, the AOC serves another important function that goes beyond the mandate of the INAO. That is to showcase and highlight the quality, typicity, and uniqueness of French wines.
The underlying philosophy of the AOC is the importance of terroir. Because Europe shares a common agricultural policy, in which food products flow freely across the continent, French wines must compete with wines from all over Europe, and it suits France to emphasize her unique terroir, culture, and traditions.
Over time, the appellation system has become a useful tool for emphasizing that.
But the AOC system is good for more than just France; it’s good for wine lovers all over the world. By maintaining a strict appellation system, France ensures that each region has a reason to specialize, to maintain the winemaking traditions that have been passed down to them, and to invest the time and effort needed to produce truly incredible wines.
Were wine an undifferentiated commodity, with price the sole distinguishing factor, then domaines would not be rewarded for the extra care, effort, investment, and attention they put into their wine.
Conclusion
The AOC system is complicated; there’s no two ways about it.
But while winemakers and consumers both pay a premium for the strictness of this regulation, the benefit is easily worth the cost: wine with traceable origin. Wine invested with the effort, know-how, and uniqueness of the Burgundy region. Last but not least, the certainty that when you buy a bottle labeled Pommard Grand Cru; you’re getting the real deal - not some knockoff.