France: Wine quality categories

Of the average French harvest, wines from the most revered quality wine category aoc represent the most significant proportion, while the most basic wine for immediate consumption, that classified as Vin de France, or VSIG, is made in ever-decreasing quantity. In between these two categories lie the category of IGP wines introduced in 2010 which replaced wines previously sold as Vins de Pays, and those awaiting promotion to AOC status called VDQS. The remaining proportion of an average year’s French wine production is designed for distillation into brandy. France dominates the production of fine brandy with its cognac and armagnac.