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Appellation controlee, short for appellation d'origine controlee, is France's prototype controlled appellation (see controlled appellations), her much-imitated system of designating and controlling her all-important geographically based names, not just of wines, but also of spirits such as cognac, armagnac, and calvados, as well as of certain foodstuffs. This inherently protectionist and highly successful system is administered by the INAO, a powerful Paris-based body which controls an increasing proportion of French wine production (more than 43 per cent in the late 1990s).
France's role as a wine producer had been gravely affected by the viticultural devastation caused by powdery mildew, downy mildew, and phylloxera in the second half of the 19th century (see France, history). Fine wines were available in much-reduced quantity, but the Languedoc and Algeria had become vast factories for the production of very ordinary wine at very low prices. Laws passed in the first two decades of the 20th century were aimed at bringing an end to the adulteration and fraud that was by then widespread. These were based simply on the principle of geographical delimitation, and specified particular areas within which certain wines had to be produced. Bordeaux, Banyuls, and Clairette de Die were among the first; disagreement about exactly which districts should be allowed to produce France's most famous sparkling wine led to riots (see Champagne, history). It rapidly became clear, however, that France's famous wines depended on more than geography. The wrong grape varieties and careless wine-making would not result in a suitable expression of these carefully delimited terroirs. By 1923, Baron le Roy, the most influential and well-connected producer of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, was implementing in his part of the southern Rhone a much more detailed set of rules including not just geographical delimitation but a specification of permitted vine varieties, pruning, and vine-training methods, and minimum alcoholic strength. (The Chateauneuf rules also insisted on a compulsory rejection or triage of imperfect grapes, and that no rose be produced within the zone.) The French appellation controlee system evolved into a national reality in the 1930s when economic depression, widespread cultivation of hybrids, and a serious wine surplus (see surplus production) increased the incentive for wine merchants to indulge in nefarious blending. The producers of genuine Pommard, for example, had a very real interest in limiting the use of their name to themselves. In 1935 the INAO was created with the express mission of drawing up and enforcing specifications for individual AOCs, or ACs, which broadly followed the Chateauneuf prototype, and in principle banned hybrids from AC wine (if not spirit; see armagnac) production. The great majority of the appellation regulations for France's most famous wines and spirits are therefore dated 1936 or 1937, although they have been continuously revised since. The VDQS category for wines deemed just below AC status was created in 1949 and is also administered by the INAO. The scheme was extended to cheeses in 1955 and now includes Puy lentils, Grenoble walnuts, Bresse poultry, certain butters, and Provencal lavender oil. The French system of categorizing wine, including its main plank appellation controlee, has been taken as a model for European Union (EU) wine legislation, and AC is France's equivalent of what the European authorities consider a quality wine. The legal powers of the INAO, both within France and in its dealings with the EU and beyond, were strengthened substantially in 1990, when it took the conscious decision to build the future of French wine on the concept of geographical appellations (eschewing even the mention of vine varieties on the main label) and adopted the specific aim of preserving agricultural activity in certain zones. It wages unceasing war on all misused generic wine and spirit names and such products as Turkey's `St-Emilion', Yugoslavia's `Calvados', and Davidoff's `Chateau Margaux' cigars. The INAO's complete list of wine and spirit appellation regulations is an unwieldy, annually revised tome, divided regionally with up to four tightly written pages of specification for each appellation and VDQS, covering the following aspects. All those communes allowed to produce the wine or spirit in question are listed, but within each of these communes only certain plots of land are deemed worthy, details of which are lodged with each commune's all-important mairie or administrative centre. Vines grown elsewhere within the commune are normally entitled only to be sold as a less specific appellation, a vin de pays or vin de table. The permitted grapes are specified in great detail, along with permitted maximum and minimum proportions. Many appellation regulations include long lists of half-forgotten local varieties. White grape varieties are permitted to a certain extent in a number of red wine appellations. Specific must weights are generally cited for freshly picked grapes before any chaptalization, generally given in g/l of sugar. A maximum alcoholic strength after any chaptalization, if allowed, is also usually specified. Control of yields is a fundamental tenet of the appellation controlee system, however sceptical some New World viticulturists are of the concept. The maximum yields cited in the regulations were almost routinely increased, however, by about 20 per cent throughout the 1970s and 1980s, so that study of these sections of appellation regulations informs only about relative not absolute productivity (see PLC). In 1993 the INAO announced its intention of curbing yields (as the EU has done) but by the end of the century this was yet to be implemented in many regions. This section usually includes information on a minimum vine age allowed for appellation controlee production (which explains some of the more famous names on labels of vin de table in, particularly, the recently expanded appellations of the northern Rhone). This usually specifies a minimum vine density, the approved pruning regime down to the number of buds, and the permitted vine-training system (see training systems). In some southern appellations the (limited) extent to which irrigation is allowed may be outlined. This long section may well specify such aspects as compulsory destemming, method of rose wine-making (usually by saignee), although there is generous use of the vague phrase `usages locaux'. Precise distillation techniques are usually specified for spirits. France's appellation controlee designation is in general a very much more reliable guide to the country's best wines than, for example, the QbA category of `quality wines' in Germany, the liberally applied DOC designation in Italy and Portugal, and its DO counterpart in Spain (all of the last three modelled in the AC system). The French system is by no means perfect, however. Policing remains a problem, and the Service de la Repression des Fraudes is probably understaffed. Contraventions of the regulations, particularly over-chaptalization, or chaptalization and acidification of the same wine, are difficult to detect (although a complex bureaucracy controls over-production). Misdemeanours are only very rarely publicized, and then usually only as a result of local politics. A more serious disadvantage of the appellation controlee system is the extent to which it stifles experimentation. In dramatic contrast to the New World, vine-growers may plant only certain vine varieties. Those wishing to experiment may be restricted to selling the wine not merely as a vin de pays, but as an anonymous, undated vin de table. The appellation controlee regulations have been drawn up not with a clean slate and a pencil devoted to the best possible options, but to legitimize the best current practices. In the various grands crus (see grand cru) and premiers crus (see premier cru) of the Cote d'Or, few would argue with the restriction that Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes should be cultivated; Burgundians have had at least seven centuries to test this hypothesis. In southern France, however, particularly in the Languedoc-Roussillon (far from INAO headquarters), there is widespread dissatisfaction with regulations which are based on declining but dominant proportions of the controversial Carignan vine, planted in great quantity earlier this century for reasons of expediency rather than quality. Even within France itself there is increasing respect for Vins de Pays from this southern part of France, and market recognition that AC wines are not necessarily superior. It is also fanciful to suggest that every wine produced within an appellation inevitably produces wines which uniquely betray their geographical provenance. Few blind tasters would unhesitatingly identify a Cotes du Marmandais, for example. And then there are the catch-all appellations such as Bordeaux AC and Champagne whose quality variation is simply frustrating. See also France, INAO, labelling information, and VDQS. References acidification adulteration and fraud alcoholic strength Algeria armagnac Bordeaux AC Carignan chaptalization Chateauneuf-du-Pape cognac controlled appellations Cote d'Or destemming distillation DO DOC downy mildew European Union (EU) France generic grand cru hybrids INAO irrigation labelling information Languedoc Languedoc-Roussillon must weight phylloxera PLC powdery mildew premier cru pruning QbA quality wine rose wine-making saignee surplus production terroir training training systems triage VDQS vin de pays vin de table vine age vine density vine varieties yield
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