“It’s not so much that the Vin de France category itself is interesting,” says David Hinkle, the chief French wine officer of the importer, Skurnik Wines. “Rather, the most interesting Vin de France are wines that use the designation strategically because of some legal issue.”
Indeed, the most compelling wines of the Vin de France share some version of a renegade origin story: Landmark wines rejected by an AOC due to petty bureaucratic technicalities. Innovative winemakers venturing to revive indigenous grapes or experimenting with varieties not sanctioned by the AOC. Natural wine producers who simply gave up on the AOC after repeated rejections for not conforming to a standard color, taste, or style.
It’s a classically French situation. “Think back to the Impressionists,” Mestre says, referencing the Paris Salon dominated by classicists with little tolerance for the avant-garde. Artists outside the conventional art community “were considered nuts, so they found new ways to exist outside of the system,” he explains. The safe havens they created, like the Salon des Refusés or the Salon des Indépendants, functioned much like the Vin de France, as refuges for the radical and boundary breaking.
But has Vin de France, like the Impressionists’ salons, contributed to the decline of the establishment, in this case, the almighty appellation system?
Many of the most celebrated Vin de France producers, “[are not] actively trying to avoid the appellation [rules],” explains Hinkle. “Most winemakers are still really proud of the appellations, and they’re continually trying to raise the level of the appellations.”
It’s just that there’s a growing contingent of producers who rely on the flexibility of the Vin de France as a tool, “dabbling in both the AOC and the Vin de France as they see fit,” suggests Mestre.
Still, the hype that surrounds the Vin de France label exposes cracks in the hegemony of the AOC. Too often the AOC is criticized as enablers of mediocrity and predictability rather than champions of excellence or ingenuity. Increased recognition of high-quality Vin de France challenges the hierarchy of regional rankings and quality designations that wine lovers have been conditioned to rely upon. Instead, the winegrowers, their own unique terroir, and winemaking take center stage.
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