The Development and Promotion of Controlled Designations of Origin (Appellations d’Origine Contrôlées) in Burgundy: The Recognition of Terroir Wines (1884–1970)

From the end of the nineteenth century to the first half of the twentieth century, French, and especially Burgundian vineyards will undergo profound changes with a relatively important transformation of wine production and marketing standards. Indeed, in the nineteenth century, the wine merchants are dominating the wine production in Burgundy. They buy grapes, make wines, breed and sell all the wines put on the market. However, thanks to economic and political changes affecting the sector during the last third of the nineteenth century (phylloxera crisis, overproduction, fraud, Third Republic,..), a political, legal and commercial fight led by winegrowers trade unions begins. They stick to redefine the standards of production and marketing of wines to get out of the crisis. These actions lead, from 6 May 1919, to the vote of the law on the Appellations of Origin, text replaced on 31 July 1935, by the decree-law of creation of the Appellations of Controlled Origin (AOC). Seizing these new rights and by judicial, administrative (in conjunction with the National Institute of Appellations of Origin) and finally by a relentless and very original promotion, the union of winemakers manages to impose a new system that gives pride to local wines. Involving phenomena of identification and appropriation of territories, involving different networks and alliances, this process will ultimately lead to the realization of the definition of a very hierarchical and fragmented Burgundy terroir. In some 80 years, a positive and qualitative notion of terroir wines will emerge and anchor permanently in the world wine landscape.