Wine 101: What is an AOC? (Part 2)

Last week, in Part 1 of  "What is an AOC?", I talked briefly about what it means and how it came to be. In this week's Wine101, let's look at the classifications used across France, Spain & Italy:

	France	Spain		Italy
1	AOC	Denominación de Origin Protteta (DOP)	DOCa	DOP	DOCG
			DO		DOC
2	AOVDQS	VCPRD		-
3	Vin de Pays (VDP)	Vino de La Tierra (VT)		Indicazione geografica tipica (IGT)
4	Vin de Table	Vino de Mesa		Vino de Tavola

Spain and Italy have two different levels for their highest classification (DOP), according to their provenance. The level 2 classifications are usually intermediaries between the AOC and VDP classification, while level 4 is mostly used for the cheapest, simplest wines.

The European Union has now created a new appellation, IGP to standardize level 3 across the countries, which is now used progressively everywhere and is supposed to simplify things a little. It loosely translates to "Indication: Geographically Protected).

Having the highest classification doesn't necessarily guarantee that a wine will be better than one with a lower classification. The best example of this comes from Italy: any Chianti is granted a DOCG status, regardless of whether it comes from the most premium parts of the Rufina sub-region, or the lowest part of the appellation that produces simple wines. Some of the best wines and most expensive wines in Italy (like Ornellaia, Solaia or Masseto, for example) comes from premium parts of Tuscany. They are made from the local varietal Sangiovese blended with Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot, which are only authorized in a small amount. As a result the wines will be declassified as IGT. Despite this declassification, winemakers prefer to make the best wines they can using their grapes.

 So the best way to know if a wine is truly good or not is to try it!