Spatial analysis of wine Protected Designation of Origin areas in France

Abstract

One concrete manifestation of the concept of terroir is the identification of Geographical Indications, whose Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) is based on strict geographical boundaries and binding, controlled production rules. Here, we study the geographical characteristics of 1,255 appellation names (DA) that correspond to one or more grape production areas defined within 355 controlled appellations of origin for wine in France, whose boundaries are available in digital format. The median area of DA is 12.6 ha, which does not fully reflect the great diversity of spatial structure across French wine-growing regions. Bourgogne has 841 (67%) DAs, while Corsica has only 9.  The altitude of DPOs’ areas varies from -12 to 902 m above sea level (average = 149). The median slope is 8.7% and reaches 149% in southeastern France. While north-facing slopes dominate appellations in the south of France, they account for XX% of appellation areas in the vineyards of Alsace, Beaujolais-Jura-Savoie, where one might have expected these potentially later-ripening areas not to be delimited. The role of relief in the spatial structuring of appellations does not appear to be a determining factor in the structuring of the appellation system in France, which seems to be governed more by historical heritage and practices in place during the emergence of appellations since the beginning of the 20th century.

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Acknowledgments

This work was not funded and was carried out by the authors of this article.