🥃 Marc

If you know grappa, marc is its French counterpart: the French pomace brandy, a category 6 spirit under EU Regulation 2019/787, named "eau-de-vie de marc de raisin ou marc" in the French text. In French "marc" also means the pomace itself: the skins, seeds and stalks left after pressing. It is distilled below 86 % vol. and sold at no less than 37.5 % vol.

The EU register lists 10 French geographical indications for marc: champenois (Marc de Champagne until 2026), Alsace Gewurztraminer, Auvergne, Bourgogne, Provence, Savoie, Côtes-du-Rhône, Bugey, Jura and Languedoc. Nine have been protected since 12 June 1989, Marc du Jura since 2008. Regional marcs have at least 40 % vol., the Alsace one 45 %.

The rules of each name are set out in its technical file, and compliance is checked on behalf of the National Institute of Origin and Quality (INAO). They differ: Marc de Bourgogne is aged for at least 2 years in wood, Marc du Bugey for 3 years in oak, the Alsace marc does not mature in wood and stays colourless, and Marc d'Auvergne is made only from red-wine pomace. In most regions distillation must end by 31 March.

Citing the historian Legrand d'Aussy (1782), the Burgundy technical file dates the invention of pomace brandy to the late 17th century; a document of 1698 already mentions the trade. Regional marcs gained national protection between 1942 and 1966: Bourgogne and Provence in 1942, Côtes-du-Rhône in 1948, Auvergne in 1949, Alsace in 1966.

Why it matters to you. A regional name on the label guarantees pomace from that region's wines and the rules of its technical file. Age statements differ: "vieux" means at least 3 years in Burgundy, 4 in Champagne and 5 in Savoie; "hors d'âge" at least 10. Only a spirit from Italy may be called grappa. According to the WHO, there is no safe level of alcohol.