Vin de pays is a French wine classification that is above the vin de table classification, but below the appellation d'origine contrôlée classification, as well as the former vin délimité de qualité supérieure classification. Legislation on the Vin de pays terminology was created in 1973 and passed in 1979, allowing producers to distinguish wines that were made using grape varieties or procedures other than those required by the AOC rules, without having to use the simple and commercially non-viable table wine classification. Unlike table wines, which are only indicated as being from France, Vin de pays carries a geographic designation of origin, the producers have to submit the wine for analysis and tasting, and the wines have to be made from certain varieties or blends. Regulations regarding varieties and labelling practices are typically more lenient than the regulations for AOC wines. In 2009, the Vin de pays classification was replaced by the new Indication Géographique Protégée designation.
Taxonomy
There are three tiers of Vin de Pays: regional, departmental and local. There are seven regional Vins de Pays, which cover large areas of France. The most voluminous contributor to this category of wines is Vin de Pays d'Oc, from the Languedoc-Roussillon area in Mediterranean France. The second largest volume of Vin de Pays wines is produced as Vin de Pays de la Loire, a designation that applies to wines from the whole Loire Valley and Chablis. The others are: Vin de Pays du Comté Tolosan, Vin de Pays de Méditerranée and Vin de Pays des Comtés Rhodaniens. Vin de Pays Terres du Midi, approved in mid-2018 for certain blended wines produced in Languedoc and Roussillon. Two further regional Vin de Pays designations, Vin de Pays de l'Atlantique and Vin de Pays Vignobles de France were approved by French authorities in 2007, but remain disputed and as of July 2009, they remained unpublished in the Official Journal of the European Union due to actions taken by other French wine producers. The Vin de Pays Vignobles de France has now been replaced by a table wine designation Vin de France, launched in August 2009. Each regional Vin de Pays is divided into several departmental Vins de Pays, of which there are about 50. The names are derived from the French departments in question and the limits exactly the same as the department's borders. For example, Vin de Pays du Gard is one of the Vins de Pays produced within Vins de Pays d'Oc using grapes from the Gard department and the Vin de Pays de Charente-maritime is produced in the Cognac area. Approximately one third of the French departments don't produce Vin de Pays, for example Côte d'Or in Burgundy and Gironde in Bordeaux, or because the climate is not suited to produce wine at all, like the Bretagne, Normandy and Nord-Pas de Calais regions. The local, or zone-defined Vins de pays are numerous, and may take their name from some historical or geographical phenomenon, such as Vin de Pays des Marches de Bretagne or Vin de Pays des Coteaux de l'Ardeche, or even a more locally specific variant. The boundaries of a zone may reflect a consistent terroir, rather than an administrative convenience, and could potentially in the long run achieve the status of an AOC.
Production rules
The conditions to respect to be allowed to use the classification Vin de pays are the following:
The allowed amounts of sulfur dioxide allowed in the wines are 125 mg/l for red wines and 150 mg/l for white and rosé wines. For wines with sugar content of at least 5 g/l, the quantity of sulfur dioxide is slightly higher: 150 mg/l for red wines and 175 mg/l for white and rosé wines.
The acidity in terms of pH values is also regulated, with some Vin de Pays areas having stricter rules than others.
The wines must be kept and produced separately from other wines and are subject to quality monitoring by an official regional committee.
Economic effects
In terms of volume, Vins de Pays d'Oc and Vin de Pays du Val de Loire are responsible for the majority of French exports. Originally, Vin de Pays designation was commonly viewed as inferior to an AOC Appellation, often being ascribed to thin and simple wines. However, since the late 1980s, an increase in demand for varietal wines has led some French producers and cooperatives to produce more Vin de Pays, especially Vin de Pays d'Oc, to make varietal wines with some form of designation, while turning away from the highly restrictive AOC classification which often requires very specific blends of grape varieties. This can be seen as a response to the increasing sales success of varietal New World wines from Australia, New Zealand, the United States, South Africa and Chile. As well as varietal wines, Vin de Pays is being used to produce non-traditional blends which do not meet the requirements of AOC or VDQS regulations. Some of these wines are considered much better, and command higher prices, than AOC or VDQS wines from the same region, or even the same winemakers.
