Vin de Pays (VDP), the French national equivalent of PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) at the European level, is a quality category of French wines, positioned between Vin de Table (VDT) and Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC). This layer of the French appellation system was initially introduced in September 1968 by the INAO, the official appellation authority. It underwent several early revisions in the 1970s, followed by substantial changes in September 2000 and again in 2009, when all existing VDT titles were automatically registered with the European Union as PGI. Producers retain the choice of using either the VDP or PGI titles on their labels, or both - in the form "IGP-Vin de Pays".
There are now more than 150 VDP/IGP titles, mainly covering the southern third of France. The "Vin de Pays" level is intended to benefit both consumers and wine producers. It allows consumers to know clearly where a wine comes from, while producers are empowered to produce wine outside the constraints of traditional AOC laws. The most obvious freedoms are the higher yields allowed and a more comprehensive list of permitted Grape varieties.
Malbec, a high-yielding red grape variety, produces tannic and colourful wines. It is produced in different wine-growing regions and changes its name according to the grape variety. Called Auxerrois in Cahors, Malbec in Bordeaux, it is also known as Côt. 6,000 hectares of the Malbec grape are grown in France (in decline since the 1950s). Malbec is also very successful in Argentina. The country has become the world's leading producer of Malbec and offers wines with great potential.
red wines from the region of Vin de Pays go well with generally quite well with dishes of beef, pasta or veal such as recipes of spaghetti squash bolognese style, leek and salmon lasagna or veal rouelle normande.
On the nose in the region of Vin de Pays often reveals types of flavors of red fruit, savory or tropical fruit and sometimes also flavors of cured meat, pencil shavings or slate. In the mouth in the region of Vin de Pays is a powerful with a nice balance between acidity and tannins.
In Bordeaux it’s not unusual to walk through echoey corridors stacked floor to ceiling with bottles of older wines. But the culture in the northern Rhône is different. Most producers will squirrel away a few cases for special occasions, but winemakers usually sell through an entire vintage rather than hold a proportion back. It’s understandable. A Bordeaux estate is typically five times the size of a domaine in Côte-Rôtie. Older vignerons from around Ampuis still remember when selling their wine ...
France’s Ministry of Agriculture has announced several measures this week designed to help ease a ‘crisis in the wine sector’. An initial part of the the plan is to offer financial support to winemakers wishing to drain excess stocks via a new distillation scheme – an emergency measure that has been used at certain times in the past. The Ministry said €40m of national state funding and another €40m of supplementary funds from the European Union would enable a crisis distillation pro ...
Held in Piedmont on 28 October and also live-streamed in New York, the Barolo 2022 en primeur charity auction saw sales of $769,800. That is up by around $170,000 on last year’s inaugural event, said organisers Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Cuneo and Fondazione CRC Donare ETS, working in partnership with the Consorzio di tutela Barolo Barbaresco Alba Langhe e Dogliani. Final sales were likely to top $800,000, with one final lot to be offered at the international Alba white truffle aucti ...
