AOC: France's Broken Wine Classification System
Mike Steinberger at Slate reports on quality French winemakers who have been rejected by the disorganized government-run AOC system: "More and more, the market is treating AOC status as simply a geographic indication—a wine's birth certificate. French officialdom should do likewise."
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3 Comments:
The French AOC system is far from "broken." It has plenty of flaws for sure, but theirs is the most rigorous appellation system in the world. Good luck finding any kind of consistency with Italian wines, for example. Their system is so corrupt the US has threatened to ban all imports of Brunello di Montalcino because no one knows for sure what's really in it. And here in the US, we have no appellation standards at all. Let's not even talk about South American wines...
simon at 5:39PM on 08/26/08
Actually, the U.S. does have appellation standards, the viticultural areas regulated by the Department of the Treasury.
greenfield at 6:48PM on 08/26/08
Sorry, but the AVA is a joke compared to AOC. "AVA specifies only a geographical location from which at least 85% of the grapes used to make a wine must have been grown." and "American Viticultural Area designations do not limit the type of grapes grown, the method of vinification, or the crop yield."
AOC covers not just where the grapes are from (and they need to be 100% from within the geographical boundaries) but also specifies which grapes may or may not be used, whether or not irrigation can be used (in almost all cases that's a no) the minimum amount of sugar in the fruit before it can be harvested, the amount of chaptalization allowed, the minimum amount of alcohol in the final product, and the maximum hectolitres/hectare yield, among many many other factors. For the higher end Grand Cru and Premier Cru Classé designations, the requirements are even more stringent. And it's these designations that are subject to the most controversy, as they are the ones that involve the biggest money. The AOC system has done wonders for French wine, both for the producers and the consumer.
simon at 10:44AM on 08/27/08