List of wine-producing regions
In 2014, the five largest producers of wine in the world were, in order, Italy, Spain, and France. (see list of wine-producing countries for a complete rank).
The following is a list of the top wine-producing countries and their volume of wine production for the year 2014 in metric tonnes, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which is an agency of the United Nations; this is the latest information available from the FAO.
Quality Wines Produced in Specified Regions
At the time the EEC had only six members, four of which were major wine producers; France, Germany, Italy and Luxembourg. The French initiated Community recognition of their principles which differentiated between "quality wines" and "table wines" in order to standardise the marketing of exported wine. Germany and Luxembourg in particular objected to any barriers to the development of their wine industry, which was geared towards the production of wines with a readily available outlet, nor did they wish to change the practice of chaptalisation (the enrichment of wine by adding sugar) which was foreign to many parts of France and forbidden in Italy. French production was highly regulated, where Italians were proud of the free commercialisation of their wines. Where plantation was strictly regulated in some states, it was practically uncontrolled in others.