Vignerons indépendants de France
Encyclopedia
Viticulture
Viticulture is the science, production and study of grapes which deals with the series of events that occur in the vineyard. When the grapes are used for winemaking, it is also known as viniculture...
trade association based in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
that promotes and assists small and independent winemakers within France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, similar to the British Society of Independent Brewers
Society of Independent Brewers
The Society of Independent Brewers was founded in 1980 under the title The Small Independent Brewers Association to represent the interests of the growing numbers of independent brewing companies in the United Kingdom...
(SIBA). Members may use the association's logo on their products. In 1978, it was set up as confédération nationale des caves particulières. (CNCP), but changed their name and their charter in 2003 to try to unite and support independent winemakers and help them fight to keep their independence against powerful winemaking cooperative
Winemaking cooperative
A winemaking cooperative is an agricultural cooperative which is involved in winemaking, and which in similarity to other cooperatives is owned by its members...
s. They currently have between 6000 and 10000 members throughout France (as of 2009).
Each year, VIF arranges a number of wine fairs (Salon des vins) in different cities in France.
Charter
The association's most important parts of their charter stipulate that members must:- Respect their terroirTerroirTerroir comes from the word terre "land". It was originally a French term in wine, coffee and tea used to denote the special characteristics that the geography, geology and climate of a certain place bestowed upon particular varieties...
- Work and harvest their own vineyardVineyardA vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...
- Make the wine themselves
- Bottle their wine themselves
- Keep viticulturalViticultureViticulture is the science, production and study of grapes which deals with the series of events that occur in the vineyard. When the grapes are used for winemaking, it is also known as viniculture...
traditions