Appellation Article

The expression “Vin de Pays” (country wine) first appeared legally in 1930, but the concept of Vin de Pays as a specific category had to wait until 1973 to be officially born. A Vin de Pays is a Vin de Table from a delimited area, which has to follow a certain number of quality control rules (stricter than for Vin de Table, but less strict than for AOC, the Official Controlled Appellation). There are 141 Vin de Pays denominations in France, with some obviously more obscure than others.

Les Collines Rhodaniennes (the Rhône Hills) is an area which straddles five departments: Rhône, Ardéche, Isère, Drôme and Loire. It produces primarily red wines from Gamay, Syrah, Merlot and Pinot Noir. This is basically the area lying at the back of Northern Rhône and its famous vineyards.

“A Vin de Pays was (originally) meant to be a quaffing wine that should display the broadest characteristics of its region’s greatest wines. It was to have a rustic charm and be a joy to drink, but nothing more. However, the Vin de Pays system, which had fewer restrictions than the AOC system, encouraged creative winemakers to produce wines in a way that they felt best expressed their terroir….The success of the Vin de Pays system lies not in creating more appellations but in freeing producers from them, which allows the most talented individuals to carve their own reputation.” Tom Stevenson