Knowing your wine: appellations as a quality feature
31.10.2017
Translation: Eva Francis
A wine’s origin is often clearly stated on its label. Especially European winemakers add this geographical indication to their wines. Have you ever wondered what this so-called appellation means and what it tells you about the wine? I’ve put together a guide on wine appellation to give you answers to these and more questions about wine.
Knowing where a wine is from is a great starting point when it comes to discovering the world of wine. Many of us will know the most famous European wine regions such as Rioja or Bordeaux.
The purpose and benefit of appellations
France as pioneers
France has a pioneering role when it comes to wine appellation. The French appellation is the oldest and considered the most reliable. The «Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée» (AOC) defines the growing region of the grapes, quality parameters such as maximum yields, grape variety and minimum level of alcohol as well as other aspects such as the storage time.
Appellations in other European countries
The AOC system has set an example for many other countries who came up with their own quality schemes. To avoid confusion, the European Union scheme «Protected Designation of Origin» (PDO) came into force in 1992 and was aligned with all country-specific appellations. Today, «AOC» or other schemes are often used alongside or instead of the «PDO» label for reasons of popularity. Some famous appellations that are old but still valid are:
Italy: DOC «Denominazione di Origine Controllata», also DOCG «Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita».
Spain: DO «Denominación de Origen»
Portugal: DOC «Denominação de Origem Controlada»
Austria: DAC «Districtus Austriae Controllatus»
Wine labels with appellation marking
When labelling wines, the according appellation is often mentioned. In this case: «Appellation Bordeaux Contrôlée». Wines with appellations that include additions such as «Appellation Bordeaux Supérieur Contrôlée» must meet even stricter requirements and stand for a higher quality of wine. I’ll go into more detail on this later on (in the section titles «Appellation levels»).
Appellation levels
If there is an even more characteristic wine of higher quality than the rest within one appellation region, it makes good economic sense to label it as such. For this reason, large wine regions set up special areas within one appellation that define such special wines and make it possible to separate the two appellations. These small appellations are subject to even stricter guidelines and are therefore often of higher quality.
Large appellations produce more wine, which is why these wines tend to be less expensive than others. Wines from small appellations with a lower production volume are often more expensive.
Regional appellation:
Price per bottle: 💰
Production volume: 🍷🍷🍷🍷
Area appellation:
Price per bottle 💰💰
Production volume: 🍷🍷🍷
Town appellation:
Price per bottle 💰💰💰
Production volume: 🍷🍷
Vineyard appellation:
Price per bottle 💰💰💰💰
Production volume: 🍷
Don’t despair, the world of appellations is very complicated. There are some rules and many exceptions. And there are exception within exceptions, too. If you’re interested in one specific appellation, all you need to do is look it up on the internet and find out what exactly it stands for.
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Tanja Lehmann
Senior Category Business Manager
tanja.lehmann@digitecgalaxus.chFriends, family, cats and good wine are my lifeblood.
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