Former French wine quality level Landwein (pays = country), which was one quality level below the quality wines (AOC, now AOP). With the EU wine market regulation that came into effect in August 2009, it was replaced by the new term IGP = "Indication Géographique Protégée", which in German corresponds to the new level PGI = "geschützte geografische Angabe" (protected geographical indication) (see also in detail under quality system). The old designation Vin de pays was allowed to be used on a transitional basis until the 2013 vintage. From the 2014 vintage onwards, only IGP was permitted.
There were around 150 vins de pays in France. Around 85% of these came from the huge Midi region in the south of France. The production share was around 20%, the majority of which were red wines. There were regional, départemental and local vins de pays. This categorisation was essentially retained during the changeover to IGP and many of the designations also remained identical. The regional VdP areas spanned several départements or regions. The 94 local (zonal) VdP areas comprised single to several municipalities.
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Egon Mark
Diplom-Sommelier, Weinakademiker und Weinberater, Volders (Österreich)