American Viticultural Area

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An American Viticultural Area (AVA) is a delimited grape-growing region distinguishable by geographic features, with boundaries defined by the United States government's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). The TTB defines these areas at the request of wineries and other petitioners. There are 187 AVAs currently in the US as of April 2007.^[1] Prior to the installation of the AVA system, wine appellations were designated based on state and county boundaries. All of these appellations were grandfathered in and maybe appear on wine labels as designated places of origins but these appellations are distinct from actual AVAs. They range in size from the Ohio River Valley AVA at 26,000 square miles (67,300 km²) across four states, to the Cole Ranch AVA in Mendocino County, California, at only 62 acres (25 hectares). The Augusta AVA in Augusta, Missouri was the first recognized AVA, gaining the status on June 20, 1980.^[2]

Unlike most European appellations, an AVA specifies only a location; it is loosely equivalent to the Italian Indicazione Geografica Tipica in that regard. It does not limit the type of grapes grown, the method of vinification, or the yield, for example. Some of those factors may, however, be used by the petitioner when defining an AVA's boundaries.

[edit] Requirements

Current regulations impose the following additional requirements on an AVA:

• Evidence that the name of the proposed new AVA is locally or nationally known as referring to the area;
• Historical or current evidence that the boundaries are legitimate;
• Evidence that growing conditions such as climate, soil, elevation, and physical features are distinctive;

Petitioners are required to provide such information when applying for a new AVA, and are also required to use USGS maps to both describe (using terms from the map) and depict the boundaries.

Once an AVA is established, at least 85% of the grapes used to make a wine must be grown in the specified area if an AVA is referenced on its label.

State or county boundaries — such as for Oregon or Napa County — are not AVAs, even though they are used to identify the source of a wine. AVAs are reserved for situations where a geographically defined area has been using the name and it has come to be identified with that area.

A vineyard may be in more than one AVA. For example, the Santa Clara Valley AVA and Livermore Valley AVAs are located within the territory of the San Francisco Bay AVA, which is itself located within the Central Coast AVA.

[edit] Current areas

The following is a listing of AVAs, broken down by region:

[edit] List of California AVAs

A list of American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) in the state of California:

• Applegate Valley, Oregon
• Chehalem Mountains, Oregon
• Columbia Gorge, Oregon and Washington
• Columbia Valley, Washington and Oregon
• Dundee Hills, Oregon
• Eola-Amity Hills, Oregon
• Horse Heaven Hills, Washington
• McMinnville, Oregon
• Puget Sound, Washington
• Rattlesnake Hills, Washington
• Red Hill Douglas County, Oregon
• Red Mountain, Washington
• Ribbon Ridge, Oregon
• Rogue Valley, Oregon
• Snake River Valley, Idaho and Oregon
• Southern Oregon, Oregon
• Umpqua Valley, Oregon
• Wahluke Slope, Washington
• Walla Walla Valley, Oregon and Washington
• Willamette Valley, Oregon
• Yakima Valley, Washington
• Yamhill-Carlton District, Oregon