Appellation d'origine contrôlée

Appellation d' Origine ( AOC abbreviated; French for about AOC ) is a protective cover for certain agricultural products originating in France, but also in Switzerland, such as wine, champagne, calvados, butter, cheese and olive oil.

Issue

The institute INAO ( Institut national des appellations d' origine des vins et des eaux -de- vie) granted the AOC rights and decides on all related issues.

Prerequisite for the grant of the AOC certificate is the observance of certain control provisions:

• The preparation must be done in the traditional way throughout.
• The ingredients must come from a particular geographic area and the product must be produced in this region and be at least partially matured.
• The properties of the product must meet to be approximately constant and clearly defined quality standards.
• The production is strictly monitored and regulated by a control commission, the underlying sets AOC standards and complies with itself.

Under French law, it is forbidden to manufacture products under AOC -protected name or to sell if they do not meet the required conditions. Not even the name parts may be used, which - as have many AOC names detect a connection with the place of production - leads to the strange situation that other manufacturers may lead to their products only the postcode as indications of origin at the site without AOC certification. With the exception of champagne all AOC - certified products can be characterized by a seal on the label or the bark (with cheese). If there is no seal, eg for Bordeaux wine, then the AOC character of the wine, such as the Médoc, indicated as " appellation Médoc CONTROLEE ", not as " Médoc AOC ".

History

The history of the AOC seal dates back to the 15th century, when the production of Roquefort was regulated by a parliamentary decree.

1905 admitted the first law the possibility to define the areas of origin of certain products officially. Quality requirements were there but not yet provided. Another law of 1919 referred the competence for these determinations to the courts, which in many regions had lengthy litigation result. On 30 July 1935, the Institute INAO ( Institut national des appellations d' origine des vins et des eaux -de- vie) was established finally by law, which decides on the award of the AOC rights and all related issues and disputes. It checks the relevant provisions, which are then adopted by the Ministry of Agriculture in Paris by decree. The Act of 2 July 1990 finally extended the powers of the INAO to all agricultural products.

Many other countries attended the AOC system as a model for their own quality seal, so Italy in 1963 with the DOP ( Denominazione d' Origine Protetta ) and DOC ( Controlled Denomination of Origin ) and DOCG ( Denominazione di Origine Controlled and Guaranteed ), Spain with the Denomination of Origin, Portugal with the Denominação de Origem Controlada, Austria with the DAC ( Districtus Austria Controllatus ) and South Africa with the Wine of Origin.

In Europe, the individual nation-state systems culminated in 1992 in the EU-wide PDO ( Protected Designation of Origin ), which the individual country systems have been adjusted. Today, in addition to the PDO, the AOC or the other systems because of the greater awareness often used either in parallel or as an alternative to the PDO for marking.

Produce

There are over 400 French AOC wines (since 2009 they are called AOP wines); they make up around 40 % of French vineyards and about 30 % of the wine produced from (see list viticulture in France).

One AOC (AOP ) is the underlying idea of ​​terroir: The produced wine must have a clear distinguishable, based on its origin identity. Furthermore, to be reflected in it the local tradition.

However, the AOC seal alone is no guarantee of the highest quality. In some growing regions such as Bordeaux, especially the Château and its Cru ( = plant ) are crucial in addition to the Appellation d' origine. The Classified Growth was first established in 1855 and refer to the great wines of the region (see classification in Bordeaux).

In addition to the wine of cheese in France and in Switzerland AOC is an important marketing feature. Only 43 of the over 1000 French cheeses may bear the designation of origin, in Switzerland, there are only seven. Besides, you still wear Calvados, pommeau, cider, perry, beurre d' Isigny, Rheintaler Ribelmais, eau de vie de poire du Valais, apricot brandy, Cardon épineux Genevois, Valais rye bread, Mund saffron the label.

The Mirabelle of Lorraine spirit was expelled in 1953 under the Statute of the appellation d' origine réglementée ( AOR). Since this should disappear by 2014 according to EU decision has national de l' origine et de la qualité approved the National Committee of the Institute of the transition to the status of the AOC on November 3, 2011. It has developed a specification for the fruit harvest as well as its storage and processing. The Staff Regulations is proposed for an area of 1,260 municipalities that were selected according to geological, climatic and historical criteria.

AOC at Swiss wines

In 1988, an AOC system was introduced for the first time Swiss wines. This was done for the terroir in the Canton of Geneva. The Valais and Neuchâtel region followed 1990, 1997 ( referred to here as DOC, Denominazione di origine controllata ) Ticino.

The award of the appellation can ( for example, AOC Valais ) or by the community (eg, AOC Yvorne ) are assigned by the Canton. In order for a wine to get this predicate, strict production guidelines must be met by each winemaker. These may differ in the regions, but are usually focused on the following parameters: tillering, density of vines, yield per square meter, low sugar content ( matched to the grape variety ) as well as details of procedure in production. In the relevant Vine cantons this legislation have been adopted. Here are differentiated restrictions on the income on the square also set to red and white wines in order to secure the desired high quality criteria.

To find out the top of the quality wines more clearly, additional attributes are given by complementary strict regulations. In the Canton of Geneva is the Premier Cru, in the canton of Valais AOC Grand Cru and it is in the canton of Vaud they are awarded in a number of graduations. The quality label of Ticino is and stands for Viti Vini Ticinesi and can only be awarded to Merlot wines. The Canton of Neuchâtel allows cantonal, municipal or regional appellations. In the German -speaking cantons also AOC - predicates were introduced, first in the Aargau, Lucerne, Schaffhausen and St. Gall.