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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 173 AVAs in 30 states, with 97 of them in California. 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).
Unlike most European appellations, an AVA specifies only a location. 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.
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 and Livermore Valley AVAs are included in the territory of the San Francisco Bay AVA, which is located in the Central Coast AVA.
Current areas
The following is a listing of AVAs, broken down by region:
List of California AVAs
A list of American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) in the state of California: of the AVAs registered and approved by the United States government's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, 97 out of the 172 are in California.A through E
G through P
R through S
T through Y
List of Pacific Northwest AVAs
A list of American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) in the Pacific Northwest states of Oregon and Washington:List of East Coast AVAs
A list of American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) on the East Coast of the United States:List of Central US AVAs
A list of the remaining American Viticultural Areas (AVAs), not on the West or East Coasts:See also
External links
- Appellations of Origin from the TTB website
- Appellation America Wine Portal - Information about each and every recognized wine appellation in the United States and Canada. Detailed descriptions and comprehensive listing of all wineries located therein, as well as listing of all varietal wine grapes grown in each region.
- AVAs with links to detailed descriptions, from the Code of Federal Regulations located at a Cornell website
- Listing of AVAs from a wine lover's website
Appellations | Wine regions of the United States | American wines | Wine-related lists
"American Viticultural Area"