Monopole

A vineyard owned entirely by one domaine or estate. The term is used in Burgundy (where monopoles are rare) and to a lesser extent in Champagne.

How many AOCs (Appellations d’Origine Contrôlée) are there in France?

A. 1,000

B. 85

C. 450

D. 260

France’s Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) laws date from the 1930s, and define and delimit French wine regions. Currently there are 450 AOCs in France, accounting for 53.4% of the wines made in the country. The rules of any designated AOC stipulate how producers who want to use that AOC’s name on their labels must make their product. The rules define, among many other factors, the permitted geographical location of vineyards and varieties of grapes, as well as minimum aging times and alcohol levels. Wines that do not follow AOC regulations (or are outside the delimited areas) are labeled as IGP (Indication Géographique Protégée) wines or Vins de France.

Stefáni

A way of training grapevines that is especially common on heavily windswept Greek islands. The vines are trained in a circle low to the ground (stefáni means “crown”), so that the grapes grow in the… Continue reading

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