French Wine Categories

Did you know....

There are four main French wine categories:

Vin de Table - this is the most basic and likely to be the cheapest.
Vin de Pays - wine from a specific region
Vin Delimite de Qualite Superieur (VDQS)
Appellation Controlle (AOC) - what are you are most likely to find in restaurants - an indication (but not always!) of quality.  There are six governing regulations for all AOC wines - the wine must come from a specific area; it must be made only with permitted grape varieties; it must adhere to specific viticultural and vinification methods (how the grapes are grown and processed) and it is subject to maximum yield controls as well as minimum alcohol levels.

Some growers choose not to follow AOC rules so that they can experiment with their wines.  The results are sometimes amazing, but they will not be given AOC classification.