France

France is one of the world's largest wine producers, and few countries have shaped how wine is understood as much. Its appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) system, formalised in 1935, ties a wine's name to a defined place, grape list and set of production rules, and became the template for protected designations of origin across Europe.

Wine is made in almost every part of the country, from the cool northern vineyards of Champagne and Alsace to the sun-baked Mediterranean south. French regions are, for the most part, named after places rather than grapes, so a bottle of Chablis or Chinon tells you where it is from and leaves the variety — Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc — to be learned.