The Wine Knows

I suspect the Idaho wine industry will utter a collective sigh of relief when it reads this article from Wines & Vines and this article from the St. Helena Star talking about how the federal government has put all American Viticultural Area approvals on hold while it decides what to do about a system that has been in place for more than two decades.

If this had happened a few months ago, Idaho would still be waiting for its first official appellation to be approved.

Here's the problem: Folks in the northern Napa Valley area of Calistoga want their own AVA. Seems to make perfect sense since every other subregion of Napa has one (St. Helena, Atlas Peak, Mt. Veeder, Oakville, etc.). But two wineries use the word "Calistoga" in their name and under current rules, 85% of their grapes would need to come from within the proposed appellation. Seeing how Calistoga Cellars actually is in Ukiah, Calif., which is way over in Mendocino County, and Calistoga Estates is in Santa Rosa, which is in Sonoma County, you can see why these two producers would oppose such an appellation.

You can also see why everyone else in Calistoga - or anyone who uses grapes from Calistoga - would think it's pretty silly that these two wineries with the name "Calistoga" on the label aren't even in Napa County. And I suspect that everyone who would like the new appellation to better market their wines would be more than mildly upset.

Don't think this couldn't happen in the Pacific Northwest. It already has.

Two appellations in Oregon were held up for more than a year while they worked out name issues.

-- Eola-Amity Hills was originally going to be called Eola Hills. But the folks at Eola Hills Wine Cellars (who aren't in the appellation but are pretty darned close) weren't thrilled that they might be forced to either use grapes only from the appellation or change their name. Lawyers got involved - and the AVA petition was changed to reflect a new name.

-- Chehalem Mountain in northern Yamhill County was held up because a winery called Chehalem is right smack in the middle of it. In fact, the owner of the winery was the guy primarily responsible for working on the AVA petition. But he also uses grapes from other areas in Yamhill County. Thus, he needed to be granted a clause that allowed him to use grapes from elsewhere. Fortunately, everyone in the Chehalem Mountain AVA gets along famously and supported this vintner, so it really wasn't a problem. However, Chehalem Mountain was the last of the six new AVAs in the north Willamette Valley to be approved.

Meanwhile, those groups working on AVA petitions - or have submitted them already - probably should find a comfortable chair. It's going to be a long wait.

One that is in the works - and I believe was submitted - is Lake Chelan in Washington. This is filled with the same implications because every other winery in the region (it seems) uses the word "Chelan" in its name. Thus, under current government rules, they would be required to use 85% of their grapes from within that AVA. That's tough for a wine region that is just emerging and doesn't have a whole lot of vineyards yet.

And what's unclear is how this would affect Tsillan Cellars, a gorgeous winery making superb wines. The name isn't spelled like "Chelan" but is pronounced "Chelan."

Thinking about that might cause a bureacrat's head to explode in D.C.

The entire purpose of an appellation is to provide winemakers and consumers with a sense of place, of origin. To me, Red Mountain immediately means something. So do Dundee Hills, Okanagan Valley and Ribbon Ridge. Thus, if a winery's name is associated with an AVA, it could be deceptive to the buyer if the grapes came from elsewhere, especially if the wine was on a restaurant list and the consumer couldn't inspect the bottle to realize the wine actually used grapes from a different region, state or even country.

Imagine buying a bottle from a producer called Horse Heaven Hills Winery, only to find out later the grapes came from Lodi or Chile.

It's probably a good thing the government is going to try to straighten all of this out. Just don't expect it to happen quickly because these are your tax dollars at work.