AOC laws and varietal labelling...

[GraemeG]

Drank some wine last night. Came in a bottle marked
Domaine Fichet
Bourgogne
appellation bourgogne controlee
Pinot Noir
2003

It also had some extraneous stuff; 'Grand Vin de Bourgogne' which I think means precisely nothing, and the words 'red burgundy wine' along the bottom of the label. It's a Dan Murphy cheapie.

My question is, I thought that if you wanted to use AOC labelling, you couldn't also use varietal labelling. Does that only apply for sale within the EU? Or have they changed the laws for some appellations? I just didn't think you could see 'AOC Bourgogne' and 'Pinot Noir' on the same label...

cheers,
Graeme

[lantana]

They must have loosened the laws at least for entry level burgundy a while ago, I recall some Joseph Drouhin Laforet Bourgogne from I think at least a couple of years ago, also including pinot noir on the front label, I vaguely recall them also having a chardonnay labelled similarly.

lantana

[Nayan]

Graeme,

The appellation bourgogne controllee is a regional designation I believe, and as such the producer is allowed to mention the grape variety.

This is not the case of village/commune/vineyard specific wines.

Regards

Nayan

[D.I]

"The competition makes them do that"
I do not think it is prohibited to indicate the name of the grape variety on the labels, but things had been change and now the customers wants to know the grapes variety and the wineries need to provide it.