Wine Reputation and Quality Controls: The Origin of the AOCs in 19th Century France

Even though they were officially settled during the second half of the 1930s, the AOCs (Appélations d'origine contrôlée) constitute the outcome of a long process that took place over the 19^th century and that reached its apogee between 1905 (the date of adoption of the law on fraud and falsification) and 1914. This article studies the pre-history of the AOCs in order to elucidate in which circumstances collective marks are required, that is, when neither the market alone nor the individual marks provide efficient information on the quality of goods.Historical experience confirms the theoretical conclusion that economic agents try to bind a mark to a territory in order to enjoy a rent. However, before 1905, a halt to this ambition came much less from the ex-ante law than from its judicial interpretations.But unlike theoretical predictions, rules and procedures are much less surrogates than complements while the recourse to a framework law (loi cadre) rather than to a law or to a decree is not necessarily synonymous with decentralization.