Vin de pays
As a result of an ongoing crisis in the French wine industry, Bernard Pomel was tasked with making proposals on how to remedy the situation. The so-called "Pomel report", which was presented to the French Minister of Agriculture on March 23, 2006, among other things proposed a simplification of the French wine classification system. This included eliminating the VDQS category. After political deliberations that somewhat delayed the initial timelines for the reform, the French parliament made the proposal into law in December 2007. The final wines labelled VDQS were those of the 2010 vintage, and by December 31, 2011, VDQS was removed entirely from the classification system. Existing VDQS areas had until then to either qualify for full AOC status or to become "Vin de pays" (which was itself replaced by the "Indication Géographique Protégée" classification). Almost all VDQS areas opted to achieve AOC status, initiating relevant procedures in 2008-2009.