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What Is An AVA or Appellation?
When you buy a bottle of wine, the vineyard location is the biggest single factor that influences its character and is one of the key things to check on the label. The appellation, district or AVA usually appears just above the varietal designation and gives you that vital piece of information. You’ll hear the terms appellation, district and AVA used interchangeably, for instance you might say that the Chardonnay is a Carneros District or the Cabernet comes from the Yountville AVA. In common use the terms appellation, district and AVA all mean the same thing.
Just for the sake of accuracy, you should know that in America the term appellation is the broadest term used to refer to where the grapes were grown. The appellation only identifies the location – it doesn’t have any requirements to distinguish the area one way or the other. The word appellation means “name”, in French, and the French Appellation d’Origine Controlée laws inspired our own appellation and AVA regulations.
The term AVA is short for “American Viticultural Area” and can only be used by a region that has been recognized by the federal government for a distinctive combination of soil, climate and topography which in turn contribute to identifiable regional wine character. It’s been said that AVAs are to appellations as grapes are to fruit. All AVAs are appellations, but not all appellations are AVAs. For instance, California is an appellation. Napa Valley is an AVA within the California appellation.
Wines named for states are examples of appellations that are not AVAs. Federal regulation requires that these wines, such as Oregon Pinot Noir or New York Chardonnay be composed of at least 75% grapes grown within the named state. California has a state requirement of 100% California grown.
In any case, the intention behind the regulations is to give you accurate information about what you’re buying. The federal government is interested in truth in labeling.
Throughout the country, and certainly within the Napa Valley, certain regions have been recognized to have a distinct mesoclimates and terrains that impart recognizable characteristics to the grapes and, therefore, wines grown within them. Growers and vintners within these regions identify the boundaries of these growing areas, and give them names that reflect their regional designations, or appellations.
Before these growers and producers are allowed to put the AVA on the label, they must document the geological and climatic circumstances to justify being singled out. They compile evidence from soil experts and engineers, meteorologists and historians.
The government isn’t in the business of evaluating quality and an AVA isn’t any guarantee that the wine is better than a wine without one but the producers within the region wouldn’t go through all the work of gaining AVA status if they didn’t believe that all of those physical factors contribute to wine character that is unique to the region. In fact, usually the region is recognized as special by those who know it long before the approval process ever begins.
A wine that has a specific AVA on the label must contain a minimum of 85% grapes grown within the legal boundaries of the AVA.
