Seven guided routes
Guided tour of the Atlas
A map answers “where”. A route answers “why”: a thesis, and stops that demonstrate it, each with its framing and its label. Seven of the seven are written; the others are crossed in documentary mode, grouped by region, and say so.
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The crus of Cognac, or the terroir cut up5 stops · 8 entries
Six complementary denominations across a hundred kilometres. Cognac is the finest example of what the law can do with a soil: a hierarchy of crus that exists only on paper and in the taste.
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The great arc of wine spirits6 stops · 21 entries
Charentes, Gascony, Andalusia, Peru: distilling a wine is one and the same operation, which the law has cut into distinct objects. The map shows the continuity that the appellations refuse.
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Fruit spirits, an arc of orchards5 stops · 16 entries
Alsace, Lorraine, Franche-Comté, Normandy: fruit distillation follows the hillside and mountain orchards, and ignores the administrative divisions laid over it.
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French rums, a map of empire5 stops · 7 entries
Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion, French Guiana: four French geographical indications ten thousand kilometres from France. The distribution of sugar is that of the colonies, and the museum must say so.
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Genièvre, a GI without a nation3 stops · 3 entries
A geographical indication shared by Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Germany. The case that proves a terroir is not a national territory — and the best argument against a France-centred museum.
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The grain north4 stops · 5 entries
Where the vine does not grow, grain is distilled. The northern limit of the vineyard explains the map of whisky better than any brand story.
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Six terroirs outside Europe5 stops · 6 entries
Tequila, Mezcal, Pisco, Moutai, Bourbon, Cachaça: out of seventy-two located terroirs, only six lie outside Europe. This imbalance is not a gap to hide; it is the very object of the scholarly programme to come.
18 entries in the Atlas belong to no route — the grape marc spirits, the liqueurs and crèmes, absinthe, vermouth and shochu. They can still be consulted through the Atlas and through their entries. This is not a flaw in the tool; it is the state of the writing.