Nîmes AOC
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Nîmes is an AOC for wine made in and around the village of Nîmes in the Rhône wine region. It is the most southerly of the Rhône appellations and was recently allowed by the INAO to be officially considered part of the Rhône AOC proper.
While its winemaking history stretches back to the 3rd century AD, Nîmes has only come into wine-drinking notoriety in the last decade or so, thanks in part to the efforts of importers like Robert Kacher and Frank Kysela. Stylistically, Nîmes largely parallels Southern Rhone with a few notable exceptions. Many Nîmes producers who are eligible for the Nîmes AOC, decide to forgo that moniker and choose to be labeled under the Vin du Pays system in order to allow varietal labelling. Much of the motivation for declassifying lies in the desire to popularize the wines to a larger international audience who may not be intimately familiar with France's more traditional AOC labelling standards. While Nîmes is definitely home to winemaking traditionalists, it is also home to many modern winemakers who either seek to improve quality or quantity through newer processes.
