The French wine regulatory system is renowned throughout the world as being the oldest, most established, and comprehensive set of wine regulations in existence. The French take their wines seriously. The system is known as Appellation contrôlée and is often abbreviated AOC, for Appellation d’origine contrôlée. On the label, the geographic place of origin is typically written between the A and the C, so a wine from Bordeaux would say "Appellation Bordeaux contrôlée" on the label.

The AOC mark guarantees that the wine comes from the named place, and is made in accordance with the winemaking styles and methods that are traditional of that place. More importantly from a financial perspective, it also regulates maximum yield per acre i.e. it regulates the maximum amount of grapes produced which brings us back to the first rule of wine investment `price is determined by supply and demand'. Thus supply of the best vintages is strictly controlled. For example, Le Pin releases just 600 cases a year. There are, on average, only three vintages of investment quality in a decade. This strictly limited production pushes prices high.