The French professor of agriculture and politician Joseph Capus (1867-1947) was a professor of agriculture. In 1924, he was elected as a deputy for the department of Gironde. His significant influence on French viticulture and wine laws began with Roquefort cheese, or rather with the "cheese scandal" in 1925 that moved the whole of France (see under Appellation d'Origine Protégée). Joseph Capus used the scandal as an opportunity to denounce the usual practice in Bordeaux of making wine from any grape variety without regard to its origin and using any method. Under his influence, the law on winemaking was expanded in 1927. Among other things, it was defined that only those grape varieties could be used that were sanctified by loyal, long-established local custom.
Pierre Le Roy de Boiseaumarié (1890-1967) had already done preliminary work in this regard in the 1920s at his Château Fortia on the southern Rhône, in which he established the boundaries of the Châteauneuf-du-Pape area on the basis of climatic and soil-typical conditions and defined the grape varieties for it. In doing so, Capus pointed the right way and is therefore considered the godfather of the French Appellation d'Origine Protégée system of origin, sometimes also referred to as "la loi capus". In 1935, he and Pierre Boiseaumarié founded the "Comité National des Appellations d'Origine" as a permanent committee of experts, the forerunner of today's INAO (Institut National des Appellations d'Origine).
Joseph Capus: by Unknown - assemblee-nationale, Public Domain, Link
Pierre Boiseaumarié: by Véronique PAGNIER - Travail personnel, Domaine public, Lien
