This new category of wines was created by the last  reform  of  COM (Common Organization of wine producing Market). It replaces the old category  of  “Vins de Table”, themselves formerly named “Vins de consommation courante”(in summary VCC).

As was already the case, labeling must mention the name of the country producer member – for instance “Wine from France”. It must be completed by the optional mentions of the name of the grape variety or varieties  and the vintage year under reserve  that the operator (that means  the initiator of the market) subscribed to an agreement procedure and a certification of  the traceability of wines. These controls are under the responsibility of France AgriMer , the mission of which is supervised by the measures of the decree dated  5^th November 2010.

The wine grower who sells in bulk is not concerned by these measures.

Rules of  production of  those  wines  :

No upper limit for the yield   : the rules of enrichment, of minimum potential degree and analytic standards are those planned by the community regulation for the area of concerned production.

Those wines should not mention the name of a château, estate or all other similar term.

The sales contract must be registered by France AgriMer. It is advisable to get closer to the regional delegation of this body for all information or  request  for agreement before  the marketing of these wines.

We have just crossed the second campaign of  the  implementation  of  this commercial segment.

The balance sheet at the end of June 2011 shows that 2.8 million hectoliters  were marketed in this category, among which 33% in white wines, 16%  in rosé wines and 51% in red wines.

The sales  of  wines  mentioning  the grape variety represent ¼ of the total and these volumes are the most coveted by the business and in constant progress from a campaign to another.

This category of wines can constitute a variant for the flow of the production of a wine property in order to regulate the market of AOC label (guarantee of quality of wine).

The Interprofession in Bordeaux  decided  the stockage of a part of the production harvested in 2011. Each wine grower could  be  exempted  from this measure  on the condition to declare at most 91%  of his AOC label areas in production . The complementary areas could be dedicated to the production of wines with no geographical mention or wines with protected geographical mention (Local Wines).

Read the article published in the magazine “Union Girondine des Vins de Bordeaux” in August 2011.

For all economic and  regulatory  details , consult the web site of France AgriMer : www.franceagrimer.fr – keyword search  “VSIG”.