Joseph Marie Capus
Definition - What does Joseph Marie Capus mean?
Joseph Marie Capus (18 August 1867 – 1 May 1947) was an expert on grape vines and an French agriculturalist in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He is mainly known for spearheading the 1927 Loi Capus Hybrid Act banning hybrids. He felt that hybrids could not make quality wines.
But no such law banning hybrids was ever passed. He did, however, obtain the passage of the AOC (Appellation d'origine contrôlée), in order to create a stricter definition of "quality wine" in France.
WineFrog explains Joseph Marie Capus
Joseph Marie Capus became the deputy in the French National Parliament and was the Minister of Agriculture in 1924. As an agriculturalist years before, his focus was on the study of diseases of the vine, specifically mildew and black rot. But once active in legislation, his main achievement was the introduction of the Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) system for French wines. His law submitted in 1935 for the system was approved in July the same year.
A few years later, he refined the system, making a list of restrictions for each region and wine estate who wished to have wine labeled as "quality wine." They had to adhere to rules such as cultivating certain varietals, yield restrictions, etc.
He had been an active member in the winemaking community for many years and in 1926, he and Jean-Raoul Paul founded the winemaking syndicate for Vayres and Graves in order to protect them against protection.
