Who came up with wine classifications and what are they?
Wine classification systems have been developed in most wine-producing countries, with the first created in the middle of the 19th century. Classification systems were created to protect both the consumer and the industry. Adulteration of wine sold to consumers and fraud in the industry were serious problems in the mid-19th century, partly because of the decimation of the industry internationally from phylloxera after about 1860. There was no guarantee that a wine labelled as a premium Bordeaux was not some concoction made from raisins and sugar in someone’s cellar. Legitimate wine producers lost sales to adulterated and forged products. Classification systems were developed at the regional level, which is why the structure of classification systems can vary within the same country. One of the first classification systems was developed in the Bordeaux region in 1855: AC or Appellation Contrlle. The French AC system was initially based solely on geography (i.e., growing and production l
