Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
specified dimensions, which gave them an advantage for transportation in the
merchant vessels of the time. In 1764 the
Arret de la Cour du Parlement
concernant la police des vins
obliged each wine grower to identify, by way of a red
brand on the bottom of each barrique, his name and that of the parish from
which the wine originated to prevent the illicit use of the Bordeaux barrique.
As with contemporary GIs, this distinctive marking actually provided an
opportunity for unscrupulous traders to pass off inferior wines as having a
Bordeaux provenance, and within Bordeaux wine from the lower quality
parishes was mixed with or passed off as wine from parishes of higher repute.
1.14
The privileges which Bordeaux enjoyed were swept away by the legislation of
the National Constituent Assembly, which abolished feudalism and revoked
the privileges of towns, provinces, companies and cities throughout France.
1
In
seeking to preserve its privileges Bordeaux argued that as the land of the
province was unsuitable for any other crops viticulture merited encouragement
and protection. This foreshadowed the modern debate around
sui generis
GIs
systems where they are justified for the purposes of rural development and the
maintenance of rural populations.
1.15
A number of commentators have pointed out that the French appellations
system has a much more modern origin than suggested by the mediaeval
privileges
and point to the opening of the railway between Bordeaux and Paris in
the mid-nineteenth century as a significant development (Olszak, 2001 at 6;
Hughes, 2006 at 306-7). Others point to the development of concern for
consumers arising from wine adulteration, fraud and falsification (Stanziani,
2004). Stanziani points out that the establishment of the French AOC system
to protect wines was the outcome of a long process in which the trade mark
system was utilised with limited success in a series of nineteenth century cases
concerning deceptive designations (see Stanziani, 2009). This necessitated
remedial legislation. The Law of 6 May 1919 concerning
appellations d 'origine
was enacted as part of a package of legislation concerning the elimination of
fraudulent and misleading designations for wines and foodstuffs. This law
sought to provide a methodology for designating wine regions. This was
reinforced by the establishment in 1935 of AOCs, under the supervision of a
Committee which, from 1947, became the INAO (Institut National des
Appellations d'Origine).
1.16
Hughes points out that of the more than 35 protected appellations for cheese in
France, only 11 are more than 30 years old and that even Chianti did not
1.17
1
Decree of 4 August 1789, discussed in Jennings, 2011 at 29.
