Everything you ever wanted to know about a french wine label

AS estate agents we're often asked for our opinions and advice on not just buying french property but a host of other topics that interest people about the lifestyle in France. Of couse, a favourite topic of discussion is wine.

In this part of the country, the south of the Dordogne and north Lot-et-Garonne, there's a vineyard in almost everyone's back garden.

Some of the the best known are St Emilion, Pomerol, Sauternes and Médoc around Bordeaux.

The Bergerac wines such as the sweet Monbazillac, Côtes de Bergerac, and Pécharmant and the gems of the northwest of the Lot-et-Garonne, the Côtes de Duras.

The annual wine festival at Sigoules, located between Bergerac and Eymet, is a fitful celebration of the area's beautiful wines. It is usually held over the holiday weekend at the end of July.

On our travels with house hunters we can usually rattle off these names, pointing out the vineyards, as we drive around the french countryside.

But I was stumped recently when one lady asked how to decode the label on a french wine bottle. I had never really given it much thought before now.

So, I decided to find out for myself.

French wine labels are intended to guarantee the quality of the wine, linking the produce to a specific location and set of laws that ensure certain standards are met. There are two main organisations that control French wine:

• Institut National des Appellations d'Origine (IANO), which controls the hierarchy of French quality wines.
• Service de Repression des Fraudes, which ensures laws connected to the wines are obeyed.

As soon as grapes are picked and right up until the moment they’re purchased, they are subject to documentation and legal obligation. It’s very serious stuff!

Two common abbreviations you’re likely to find on a French wine bottle

• QWPSR: Quality Wine Produced in a Specific Region (yes, in English!)
  This is an EU-sponsored classification that differentiates quality wines from table wines, marking them as higher in status. There are two grades of QWPSR: Appellation Contrôlée (the highest), and Vin Délimité de Qualité Supérieure (the second highest grade obtainable).
• AC or AOC: Appellation Contrôlée, or Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée
  AC or AOC is the highest level of quality a French wine can reach. Applying not just to wines but to certain cheeses and butters too, this means the wine (or other produce) conforms to a system of laws relating to its originating geography and the methods by which it’s produced. These include:
• Areas of production (defined by soil composition)
• Grape varieties
• Growing techniques, including planting distances, pruning methods etc.
• Maximum yield permitted per hectare
• Wine production methods, including ageing
• The minimum alcoholic degree in the wine that must be achieved without must-enrichment

The more specific the geographic description of the wine, the stricter the regulations and the higher the appellation. It’s even possible that one vineyard could be eligible for several ACs of different quality levels.

A votre santé!