Appellation is a French term that refers to a grape growing region distinguished by geographical features which produce wines with shared characteristics. The idea is that the soil, climate, sun, water quality, and topography of a region combine to produce a style of wine that simply can't be duplicated elsewhere. The size of an appellation can range from very small plots of land to huge areas that cover hundreds of miles.

In 1935 France founded the Institute National Des Appellations d'Origine, becoming the first nation to set up a countrywide system based on geography for controlling the origin and quality of its wines. Their Appellation d'Origine Controlee (AOC) plan originated as a preventative measure during the Depression to protect French winemakers and consumers from fraudulent and inferior wine blending practices of some unethical wine brokers. Since that time other countries have adopted similar regulatory controls such as the DOC in Italy and Do in Spain.

It is also interesting to notice that in spite of the great success of the New World wines with their varietally labelled wines, they are also increasingly looking to define areas that have specific characteristics and styles that will help differentiate them from the massive range of wines available

The aim with all these controls is to try and define and reproduce year after year a style of wine that is truly representative of a particular area and genuinely represents the ‘best wine' (a very subjective term) that that region can produce