The national committee of the Institut National des Appellations d’Origine (INAO) in France has agreed to add two new Alsatian communal Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOCs) names – Alsace Bergheim and Alsace Coteaux du Haut Koenigsbourg – bringing the total of AOCs in Alsace to 13.

A spokesman from the INAO stated that with the addition of these last two complementary geographical names, there is now no intermediate stratum between AOC Alsace and Grands Crus, claiming that with the addition of Bergheim and Coteaux du Haut Koenigsbourg, this has been completed.

However, not everybody agrees that these additions are a good thing, with one winemaker saying it as a “gigantic mess”.

“The adoption of two new geographical indications in Alsace will not change the face of the world because, like the other 11, they have only varietal definition,” he added.

These thoughts were echoed by the export manager of another leading producer who said: “Alsace wines are not always easy to understand for consumers and, by adding new stratum, it just makes it even more difficult.”

Alsace nestled in between the Vosges Mountains and the Rhine River, was the last of the major French wine-producing regions to become part of the Appellation Contrôlée system back in 1962.