The work of the vine is very demanding, and requires much attention to the winemaker to use at his best all the means given by mother nature to have the nicest harvest. It is known that the climatic characteristics influence the quality of crops. The wines resulting from such qualitative efforts deserve to be distinguished from the different one.
Winemaker as consumers, always wanted to ensure themselves of what there’s in the bottle. Thus the origin had always been synonymous with quality. The wines of Cécube or Falerne, 2000 years ago in Rome was as famous as the greatest contemporary vintages. On the amphoras, as on our labels, the indications of origin were painted, the year, the type of wine, wine making process….
The market needs to identify the wines as much as the production seeks to prove the authenticity of their origin. Gathering as a geographical corporation, winemakers had the opportunity to attract the market by guaranteeing the qualitative regularity of a given area: typicity of the wines.
Therefore, to the constraint of nature, which implies the selection of adapted varieties, coincides the requirement of product’s identification by purchasers: the word APPELLATION answers this demand. To each TERROIR there’s an APPELLATION. The first is the production area : the origin, the authorized grape varieties, the cultural manners and wine makings. The second is the legal and official guarantee.
For example, only Châteauneuf du Pape producers, can write this name on the labels. Thus if winemaker produce the same type of wine coming from another area, although its quality (type of vine, work, nature of the ground…) is practically the same, by law this wine could not be a Châteauneuf du Pape one.
What is important in AOC acronym (appellation - origin - controlled) is O.
A APPELLATION = legal guarantee of the product.
C the very strict guarantee of its processing.
O what man cannot change: the nature subtle influence on a plant = TERROIR.
The AOC has been created in France since 1936, following massive frauds which compromised the sincerity of honest winemakers and to protect cheated consumers. The logic of the law was to ensure the honesty and the sincerity of the wine making process.
Gradually, for the trading networks of wine, this AOC principle became, wrongly, synonymous as trade mark. Thus for many Bordeaux is considered as a top class wine, considering that name as quality wine! This logic is false. Bordeaux AOC means that the wine comes from the area of Bordeaux, the quality of the wine comes from the winemaker and his art, over there also the wine can be good or bad.
The brand is the name of the Château or of the Estate thus, Yquem or Pétrus are trade marks which come from the wine area of Bordeaux. Yquem from Sauternes APPELLATION AOC and Pétrus from Pomerol APPELLATION AOC.
Gradually,a hierarchy of APPELLATION was born:
The regional level and sometimes sub-regional, the communal and sometimes climatic levels.
The French great areas are Bordeaux - Burgundy - Rhône - Alsace - Languedoc - Loire and many others….
Let us take example with the most sophisticated classification: Burgundy:
The regional level: Burgundy
The sub-regional level: Côte de Beaunes - Côte de Nuit - Mâconnais - Chablis
The communal level: Pommard - Meursault - Pouilly Fuissé - Volnay - Vosne Romanée
The climatic level or Grand Cru: example on the commune of Vosne Romanée.
-Romanée Conti Grand Cru
AOC
-La Romanée Grand Cru
AOC
-La Tâche Grand Cru
AOC
-Richebourg Grand Cru
AOC
-La Grande Rue Grand Cru
AOC
-Romanée Saint Vivant Grand Cru AOC
Such complexity is the result of a great experiment and practice of winemaking in a area, by establishing a qualitative hierarchy of the soils.
Although complex sometimes (even for a French) this concept of APPELLATION has several advantages: to preserve wine traditions, ancestral knowledge, the safeguarding of certain varieties, to resist to the fashion of taste… things which are considered in France as an integral part of our cultural heritage.
It is a rather reliable way, for everyone trying to understand, to do riskless purchase. Price level also could to be a good indication, which often evolves in parallel with the hierarchy of the wines.
One can conclude that, even if the quality wine is a production which does nothing but reflect its origin, carried out without initial specific marketing endeavour; the scarcity of the wine, the talent of winemakers, the fame, the demand and competition make that it becomes a marketing product.
As it is seen, the concept of TERROIR does not result from a logic of marketing but it tends to merge with it.
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