This article is from the public number:Circle Planetary Ball (ID:huanxingxingqiu), author: Léa, title figure from: vision China
After coming to France, I first read a wine degree and later worked in a winery. In the past few years, I have encountered various problems of domestic friends.The simplest but most troublesome thing is: “Which brand of red wine in France is better?”
The red wine store in Bordeaux, the more expensive it is, the more expensive it is (Source: Léa, author)
The question seems to be casual. In fact, this is the “big question” that touches the foundation of the French wine hierarchy. The reason why it is difficult to answer is because this question is not asked on the idea…
In the modern business society, we are used to using “brands” to understand goods and divide them into three or six, etc., such as buying white wine, we identify famous brands such as “Moutai” or “Wuliangye”. Not for the “Guizhou liquor” or “Sichuan liquor”.
However, this consumption habit does not apply to wines in France and throughout Europe. When a Frenchman walks to the wine shelf in the supermarket, the first thing he wants to consider is which wine in the “production area” to buy, not which “brand”.
Supermarket near my home, September is the wine discount season (Source: author Léa)
In France, each wine region is incorporated into the system and is a separate AOP (Appellation d’Origine Protégée), literally translated as “protected appellation of origin”.
The legal and legal protection of the country of origin was the first of its kind in France and later extended to other European wine producing countries. The reason why France has become the leader of the wine world is an important reason.
Pope Newcastle is the first production area in France to establish the AOP system. I am here to work (Source: Léa, author)
There are more than 360 AOPs in France, and they are all over the place. To know that France is large, but not every province produces wine, so more than 360 AOP is very impressive.
French wine region distribution map, most regions do not produce wine (Source: Actualitix)
The uniqueness of the French wine AOP origin system is that it does not protect the brand of a single winery, but the origin of the joint development. This should be regarded as the “collective ownership” of the trademark community.
A lot of wine promotion activities are carried out in the production area, such as the “Popular Newcastle Spring” wine exhibition (Source: author Léa)
There are some AOP origin names very long, such as Côtes-du-Rhône villages Saint-Pantaléon-les-Vignes near my home, only Cixi’s nickname “Xiao Qin Cixi Duanyou Kang Yu Zhao Yuzhuang Cheng Shou Gong Qin Xian Chongxi Tianxing Shengxian Queen can compete with it one or two.
Côtes-du-Rhône villages Saint-Pantaléon-les-Vignes producing presses and vineyards (Source: Véronique PAGNIER)
AOP(Protected Appellations of Origin) Called AOC (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée), the “controlled appellation of origin”, later the European Union changed the “control” unified into “protection”, from the overbearing president to become a wife and madman. The name change is mainly for the cottage wines:They are protected well-known places of origin, and you should not be too hot.
Gigondas in the wine AOP area near my home (Source: author Léa)
However, as far as the specific content of this system is concerned, the word “control” is more capable of revealing the essence than “protection.” Why do you say that?
Because AOP is not only a geographical issue, but also has restrictions and controls on all aspects of wine production. To tell the truth, the requirements of a wine in an AOP producing area are complicated, such as the cultivation of immortals.
For example, France’s most famous production area should be Bordeaux. It is well understood that Bordeaux red wine can only be made from grapes grown in this part of Bordeaux. But this argument is not true in the end.
Château Gruaud Larose, a well-known winery in Bordeaux, when I visited, the winery was leveling the land to prepare new grapes (Source: Léa, author)
Assuming you sold a one-bedroom apartment in Beijing’s second ring, buy a big villa with a garden in Bordeaux. You planted vines in the garden and brewed it yourself. Can this be considered “Bordeaux red wine”?
The answer is capitalizedBold can’t, because your garden is not included in the legal vineyards of Bordeaux AOP. Each AOP production area has a designated area. Sometimes, two pieces of land are separated from one road and do not belong to the same AOP, or one piece of land is AOP, and the other piece is not.
The red part is the Bordeaux wine region, but it does not mean that every piece of land inside can be included in the Bordeaux AOP, which specific land AOP is going to the municipality of the city where it is located (Source: vin-vigne.com)
Do you think that it’s just a matter of limiting birth? It’s too small to be able to toss the French. The flow of information behind AOP is huge and fragmented.
Our example is Ma Yun’s winery acquired in Bordeaux in 2016. This winery is called Château de Sours and the wine produced is owned by Bordeaux AOP.
Ma Yun’s Winery (Source: Château de Sours)
This is the 2010 year before Ma Yun’s acquisition, whenThe name of the AOC is also used (Source: Warehouse Liquor Mart)
If Ma Yun’s dad’s winery wants to produce Bordeaux AOP red wine, the first grape variety is limited, only 6 varieties can be used:
Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Cote Cot (aka Malbec Malbec), Camry Carmenère, Petit Verdot.
Don’t try to distinguish the differences between the various varieties. There isn’t a pair of eyes that can’t be worn at all. It’s also happening to the wine growers themselves. :Ursula Bruehl, Doris Schneider, Julius Kühn Institute)
Light is the root of the seedling red is not enough, when planting, at least 4,000 vines should be planted in one hectare (for high-density planting competition ), the line spacing cannot exceed 2.5 meters; the plant spacing in the same line cannot exceed 0.85 meters.
The scene of grape growing in Bordeaux (Source: Les chemins de la vigne)
This is only the most basic. The limitation of the AOP system on the grapes is 360° stereoscopic surround panorama without dead ends.
For example, if you visit the winery in the summer, you will find that the top of the vine is cut like a quilt, and it is neatly trimmed. This is mainly to avoid the grape leaves and leaves being too lush and the nutrition of the fruit. .
This work is now replaced by a machine (Source: Domaine Maria Cuny)
Small flat head can’t be cut casually. The requirement of Bordeaux AOP is that the height of the grape leaves can not exceed 0.55 times the vine row spacing.
For example, the vineyard below, the visual line spacing is about 1 meter (compared to the person behind), then the height of the crown formed by the grape leaves It can’t exceed 0.55 meters.
(Source: Chateau Petit Val)
In addition to this, production restrictions are also an important part of the AOP system. Bordeaux red wine AOP stipulates that the grapes produced per hectare can not exceed 10,000 kg, and the wine produced can not exceed 6000 liters. In addition, the winery’s winemaking and storage space is at least twice the total production of the previous year.
The wine cellar of Ma Yun Winery
(screenshot source: facebook@Château de Sours)
The Bordeaux AOP regulations also require equipment for brewing. For example, the continuous press below is prohibited.
(Source: Olivier Colas)
Having said that, these are just the tip of the iceberg of AOP regulations, and there are many other technical details that can be described as “a door into the sea.” There are 57 pages of regulatory documents for Bordeaux AOP alone, and there are more than 360 such AOPs in France.
The cumbersome and complex AOP origin regulations guarantee the basic quality of wine on the one hand, but more importantly, the AOP system must guarantee that the wines of a certain region must have the characteristics of this place. Each producing area thus forms the main style and market positioning of “we are different”. The grade of wine is basically reflected in different levels of AOP.
This is why the French buy wines will give priority to the production area, not the brand. As for which region of France is better? This is another “big question”…
This article is from the public number: < span class = "text-remarks"> planet ring (ID: huanxingxingqiu) , author: Léa