Teaching An Old Wine a New AVA.
A recent discussion came up on Facebook around the use of newly created AVAs (American Viticultural Areas) on wine labels made from vintages pre the AVA's existence. The discussion was around the recently created AVA of Coombsville in eastern Napa. The question that came up was would that be allowable under the TTB's labeling regulations? i.e. If you are about to bottle a 2009 wine and wanted to put Coombsville (which became an AVA in December 2011) as an AVA on the label could you do this? Read more
How an AVA is Born.
I just read a really good article on a new AVA that has been submitted for the Coombsville area in Napa. If approved it would become the 16th sub-AVA within Napa Valley.
AVAs have grown in numbers rapidly in the last 5 years. The process that happens behind the scenes to create them may look simple, but involves detailed research.
Multiple Options For Using Multiples on Wine Labels
At current count there are well over 6,000 wineries in the US and those numbers only continue to go up. Keep in mind that number is just the count of wineries, not the actual count of all of the wines that they each make. And they generall will each make several different wines. This means for the lucky consumers that they have no shortage of choices when it comes to wines. This explains why you may have seen someone standing in the wine aisle and staring at the long row of bottles before them with a glazed expression on their face. How do they make a choice with so many options? Wineries themselves have a range of choices when it comes to designing the labels for those bottles. This includes the option of multiples displayed on the front label of their wines. Multiples in three different areas; varietals, appellations or vineyard sites. Read more