An American Viticultural Areas (AVA), is a federally designated American wine region that has been recognized by the Alcohol Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). Each individual AVA is defined by history, geography, climate, soil, and a variety of other factors.
HOW Does the AVA System Work?
Step 1- An AVA Petition is filed with the TTB.
Step 2- Petitions go through a rigorous, multi-year approval process.
Step 3- The AVA Petition is published in the Federal Register, and a new wine region is recognized.
Step 4- Using no less the 85% of grapes produced in the new region, producers can submit to the TTB for label approval and print the name of the AVA on each label of commercially sold wine.
How the AVA System Helps Producers
AVA’s help protect the name of a region- A federally published AVA can protect the name of a region from being used to market wines made from grapes outside the AVA boundaries.
AVA’s help producers differentiate themselves- In a competitive industry, AVA designations help wine producers create distinctions between their products produced in their region and products produced outside the region.
AVA’s foster wine tourism- Successful implementations of AVA designations and industry growth can draw new tourist dollars to your region for those in search of your wines.
AVA’s help create economic viability- Studies show that grapes sourced from federally designated AVA fetch upwards of 14% more per ton than grapes sourced from non-designated AVA’s.
AVA’s draw attention to previously unknown regions- Achieving an AVA designation allows producers to attract more attention to their products from consumers, functioning to help whole industries grow.
AVA’s foster economic growth- Established, successful AVA’s function as the center for additional support industry development and regional growth.
HOW the AVA System Benefits Consumers
AVA’s prevent fraud- With the AVA system, consumers can reliably depend on each bottle of wine they purchase to be made from grapes grown inside the boundaries of AVA listed on the label.
AVA’s help educate consumers- The AVA systems helps consumers reliably differentiate wines, and educate themselves on the variations between different wine regions.
AVA’s help consumers discover new wineries- If a consumer enjoys a wine from a specific AVA, they are more likely to try wine from other wineries located in that AVA.
AVA’s create new travel destinations- Successful AVA’s create opportunities for wine centered travel and exploration into a wine regions offerings.