How French Wine Appellations Arose

Mark Izydore is a Florida financial accountant who guides CJ Consultants and delivers client-centered results. A wine enthusiast, Mark Izydore is active with Les Amis du Vin, an organization that focuses on maximizing the enjoyment of wine through understanding its rich heritage.

With wine grape cultivation extending to Gaul in the 6th century BC, France is the traditional epicenter of European vintages. The art of winemaking was codified in the early 20th century with the establishment of wine law in the Appellation d’Origine Controllee (AOC).

Now known as the Appellation d’Origine Protegée (AOP), this system of ranking wine regions and viticultural practices came about when new grapevine diseases and pests spread across France, Spain, and Italy. This made fraud among growers and bottlers prevalent as they sought to meet demand without sufficient stock.

In some cases, beet juice was added to vats at the fermentation stage, and in other cases, imported raisins were used to make wine. The French government even somewhat relaxed wine importation standards to ensure enough supply.

Unfortunately, these practices did not end when normal levels of domestic wine production resumed. A random lab test of samples from 617 wines in 1905 returned results that 500 had been degraded in some way. Estimates placed mislabeled bottles at 40 percent, which impaired the prestige of French wines, a growing export market.

With half a million farmers gathering in Montpellier in 1907 to protest this state of affairs, skirmishes with the government brought about tension and gunfire. Ultimately, starting in 1911, measures were instituted that accurately tallied each grower’s production and delimited wine regions such as the Bordeaux AOC.