Appellation Controlee (AOC or AC): The highest rank.
Vins Delimites de Qualitie Superieure (VDQS): roughly translates to "A superior wine from a designated area"
Vin de pays Literally "country wine". Always followed by a place name. Generally refers to a much larger area than the first two designations.
Vins de table: ordinary French table wines that carry no geographic designation other than France.
Like France, Italian wine law has four designations that run along similar lines. The Italian designations are:
Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG): a select group of 13 wines. The designation DOCG appears on the labels of these wines.
Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC): A group of 250 place-controlled wines.
Vino da tavolaL: followed by a place designation.
Italian table wine–Ordinary table wine: carries only the designation "Italy" on the label.
German wine laws also control the designation of place names. Unlike their French and Italian counterparts, however, German wine labels carry the grape name as well as the place name, such as Piesporter Goldtropfchen Riesling. The finest German wines also carry a "pradikat," an indication of the ripeness of the grapes in the wine. By German law, there are six levels of ripeness (listed from the least ripe to the ripest):
Kabinett
Spatlese
Auslese
Beerenauslese
Eiswein
Trockenbeerenauslese
In South Africa, about ten percent of the best wine qualifies as Wine of Origin (designated WO on the label). Based on French wine law, South African law strictly designates vineyards, allowable grape varietals, production methods, and vintages.