The short life of Vignobles de France

The French Conseil d’État, France’s highest admininstrative court, has annulled the decree which legally established Vignobles de France (literally, 'vineyards of France') as a vin de pays in May 2008. The category had been under discussion for several years before it was enthusiastically endorsed by Viniflhor in January 2007. See here for the background to this story.

There were objections at the time, particularly from producers and organisations in Languedoc and Roussilllon, and the EU asked the French government to ‘reconsider its position’. I really didn’t imagine then that the French would climb down, but it seems they have, on...