Pinot Law

I stumbled across an interesting article yesterday, that hits on a topic near and dear to many a winemaker’s heart: appellation. At its most basic level, the appellation on the wine label tells the consumer where the grapes in that bottle of wine come from. Appellations can include counties, states, multi-states, and what are also known as viticultural areas. There are about 200 viticultural areas in the United States, and they are identified in the code of federal regulations, here.

The article does a good job of highlighting a few points. First and foremost, it notes that obtaining label approval from the TTB (which regulates all domestic wine labels) can “be a real headache sometimes.” But it also points out that often times wineries must obtain grapes from outside of their area — so, for example, a Virginia winery, may need to buy grapes from California or New York to process their wines. Moreover, the winery can only use the appellation if 75% or more of the grapes come from that region, and the wine is made in the area of appellation.

And of course, the appellation can have a major marketing impact for the wine seller. A Chardonnay from Napa valley, will almost certainly fetch more than a Chardonnay from the North Fork of Long Island (not that I have anything against Long Island). Ultimately, it is about where your wine is from — and that can be a good thing . . . even if it’s from Long Island.

Horse’s Ass, used under a Creative Commons license provided by eamills.