It is the system used by the French Government to identify the wine regions of the country and set the standards of wine making (alcohol content, grape varieties, cultivation methods, etc.). The AOC was established in the thirties to help ensuring the quality of French wine and to prevent fraudulent labels.
The Italian equivalent of AOC is the DOC (Denominazione d’Origine Controllata), the Canadian version is the VQA (Vintners’ Quality Alliance) and so on.
