European Union wine growing zones

The entire vineyard in the wine growing areas of the European Union is divided by EU regulation on climatic criteria in seven wine-growing zones. These are the main areas A, B, and C. The main zone C is further divided into subzones Cla, CIb, CII, CIIIa and CIIIb.

The coldest climate prevails in the zone A. The zone CIIIb has the warmest climate. For the winemakers different rules with respect to must weight, enrichment and acidification, deacidification of wine and apply in the various zones.

The German wine regions belong together with the Luxembourg wine-growing region to growing zone A - with the exception of Baden.

The wine region of Baden belongs together with the French wine regions of Alsace, Lorraine, Champagne, Jura, Savoie and the Loire Valley to the wine-growing zone B.

There are efforts to simplify the classification of three zones, south, center and north. The minimum requirements are expected to increase to the wine in the northern zone.

In the Americas, there are only in California a similarly precise classification into different climate zones.

Definition of wine-growing zones

The exact classification of European wine-growing zones is as follows:

  • Zone A, the coolest of the zones, includes, with the exception of the viticultural area of ​​Baden all other areas of Germany. In addition, the vineyards of Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and all the Scandinavian countries belong to zone A.
  • Zone B, in addition to the area of ​​Baden are all wine regions of Austria in this zone. In France, Alsace, Champagne, Jura, Loire, Lorraine and Savoie are among them.
  • Zone C, the warmest zone is divided into the following sub-zones: Zone CI a In France, the regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Provence, Rhône and Sud -Ouest among them. In addition, some areas in northern Spain and a large part of the Portuguese regions have been classified here.
  • Zone CI b, with a small part of the northern regions of Italy.
  • Zone C II includes the acreage of the Languedoc- Roussillon as well as most of the northern regions of Italy and Spain.
  • Zone C III a applies to the cooler part of the Greek regions
  • Zone C III b applies to French faces the Mediterranean and Corsica, the south of Italy and Spain, the warmest areas in Portugal, as well as for the main part of Greece.
Chaptalization Baden (wine region) Alsace wine Lorraine (region) Champagne (wine region) Jura wine Savoy wine Loire Valley (wine) Belgian wine South West France (wine region) Spanish wine Portuguese wine Italian wine Greek wine Corsica wine
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