They probably mean that the certification requires very rigid processes which means any variation would not get the stamp of approval so innovation and experimentation is discouraged.

There are plenty of examples where the young renegades veered off and produced their own products in an AOC or DOC region. It just means the onus of marketing is upon themselves.

It just makes more sense to create a brand that binds hundreds of producers together by standards. Everyone on average is better off.

Once you get a product, like Camembert, or a wine like Burgundy, with a big AOP apparatus around it, there is little room for experimentation. In Burgundy you can't plant anything except Chardonnay for white wine that's going to be labeled Burgundy. Someone has an idea that sauvignon blanc might do well in a famous vineyard? Too bad, instead of Grand Cru Burgundy you're going to have to sell it as generic "Vin de France", which is typically box wine.

If anyone hasn't tried AOP French butter, it is really wonderful. The cows are pastured or fed forage, no grain, so it has a lot of flavor. There's a reason the French enjoy tartines and "beurre jambon" (sandwiches with preserves and ham, respectively), with good bread and butter it's a revelation. Bordier is rightly famous but any, e.g., Beurre d'Isigny is going to be worlds above 99% of butters made in the US.

>Bordier is rightly famous

Oh, the smoked butter (sel fumé) from a small specialist farm in Bretagne.. stuff of dreams.

Beurre fumé or sel fumé? (Is the salted butter itself smoked, or is it butter made with smoked salt?)

I believe it's sel fumé: salted butter, using smoked salt.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoked_salt

If you like Isigny butter, try Isigny cream ;) It's hard to find better crème fraîche.

Fun fact : it's the original home of the Disney family (d'Isigny).