Chateau Le Puy, a Bordeaux-based 400yo property, has filed an application with The Institut national de l’origine et de la qualité (INAO), a French organisation that regulates French agricultural products with Protected Designations of Origin (PDOs), to create a single-vineyard appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC).

Located within the 525ha of Francs Côtes de Bordeaux, the 50ha estate is owned by Jean-Pierre Amoreau, whose family has been looking after the property since 1610.

AOCs in France are required to have a quality charter or Cahier de Charges or specifications, which include detailed information about winemaking practice, and are required to be checked by a local wine syndicate – Organisme de Défense et de Gestion (ODG) and a quality control agency, reported Decanter.com.

According to Le Puy’s specifications, it would be a certified-biodynamic AOC with one hectare of wild flowers or forest for every hectare of vines, would produce only natural yeasts and would act as its own ODG, claims the estate.

Amoreau told the website that they are known for producing different wines when compared to their neighbours.

"Often in Bordeaux it is more an administrative decision, based on communes. We want to take the approach of Burgundy, and make an appellation based on geology," he added.

Amoreau’s application, which is expected to be finalized by 2014, is supported by neighbours in Francs Côtes de Bordeaux, who voted for Chateau Le Puy to have its own AOC.

Upon approval, Chateau Le Puy will become the eighth single-vineyard AOC in France.