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Regions / Appellations

Hi all,

Like all of you here I like wine but it's now that I'm getting into the nitty gritty details!!

One thing that really confuses me is the regions / appellations relationship. Well, regions are areas of a country and regions can have sub-regions. So are appellations sub-regions of sub-regions or sub-regions of regions??

I went to wine-searcher.com to find out more, and as an example I picked up 3 regions/appellations to explain my confusion!!!

  1. USA->California->Bay Area->Ben Lomond Mountain
  2. France->Alsace->AOC Alsace->Auxerrois, AOC Alsace
  3. Australia->New South Wales->Canberra District

So, we all know that USA, France and Australia are countries. We can also assume that California, Alsace and New South Wales are the main regions.

In the case of California, is Bay Area a sub-region and Ben Lomond Mountain an appellation?

In the case of Alsace, is AOC Alsace a sub-region and Auxerrois an appellation?

In the case of New South Wales, I assume Canberra would be sub-region so is it an appellation too?

Hope somebody can enlighten me!!!

Ivan

Reply to
Ivan Debono
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In the USA the official term is "American Viticultural Area", often abbreviated as AVA. Jurisdiction of AVA's is under the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (whew!). Prior to a recent governmental reorganization, it had been under the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF). A summary of what is required to have a specific area designated as an AVA can be found at:

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AVA's are distinct from political jurisdictions such as counties and states, although either of the latter can be listed as a source of grapes on a wine bottle label, e.g. "California" or "Sonoma County". This _generally_ indicates that not enough of the grapes used to make the wine came from an official AVA. AVA's can overlap political boundaries. The Columbia Valley AVA is mostly in Washington State but also includes part of NE Oregon. AVA's are hierarchical. A large AVA may contain sub-AVA(s), sub-sub-AVA(s), etc. AVA's can overlap each other. The Carneros AVA overlaps both the Napa Valley AVA and (I believe; someone correct me if I'm wrong) the Sonoma Valley AVA.

More could be said about AVA's, and I hope some others will. But I'll leave my comments here. For countries other than the USA, there are others that post here that are far more qualified to comment than I am.

HTH

Vino To reply, add "x" between letters and numbers of e-mail address.

Reply to
Vino

"Vino" in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

The US, as a relatively young nation, is acquiring experience with the naming of Bureaus. With many excellent examples to follow. The China National Native Produce and Animal By-Products Import and Export Corporation comes to mind, and there are others.

Reply to
Max Hauser

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