The French AOC wine market faces a deep crisis. In the Languedoc-Roussillon, professional leaders have proposed to react through the development of a regional appellation called “Languedoc”. Combining economics and sociology, this paper presents the results of our research and expertise program developed on their request about such a strategic issue. From a definition of market as an “interaction system”, three complementary research works have been done in order to assess the factors of the crisis and to analyse the economical and social conditions of a successful “market innovation” around “Languedoc” AOC wine. Statistical analysis and qualitative interviews of both AOC wines producers and sellers call finally for the building of socio-technical innovation networks in two steps, fisrt targetting a medium range positioning of a well-identified product and a renewed regional governance of the wine sector, then the AOC wines range extension and hierarchisation, supported by the development of complementary activities.