The reality in most of Western Europe is that wine areas carry with them laws, rules and regulations which are overseen by boards- Consejo Reguladors in Spain, Instituts National in France and the like. These organizations oversee the methods, procedures and regulations governing wines in an area, whether at a national level or a regional level. Some would argue that they are too restrictive (permitting and forbidding specific grapes, growing methods, yields and the like) while others would claim that the reason so many of their wines maintain typicity and specificity are because there are hard guidelines on what can and can’t be done. Continue reading »