France

Where to begin.... Many think of France as being the place to start when learning about wine.

France is the second largest producer of wine in the world (after Italy). There are basically twelve distinct growing regions in France and the system through which the wine is regulated is Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC), which translates to "controlled term of origin".

The central concept of high quality wine is terroir, which refers to the unique combination of geographical factors associated with a particular vineyard. The concept of terroir is the base of the French wine AOC system that governs winemaking and production in France and has been the model for appellation and wine laws all over the world.