American Viticultural Areas abound in wine industry
American Viticultural Areas abound in wine industry
Oct 4, 2011 6
(VCStar) - The wine-grape growing areas in California are usually broken into five major wine regions. They are the South Coast, which includes the Temecula Valley as well as areas in Los Angeles and Orange counties; the Central Coast, including Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Monterey counties; the Sierra Foothills, including Amador, El Dorado and Calaveras counties; the Central Valley, where many wineries operate in and around Lodi; and the North Coast, which includes Napa and Sonoma counties and many of the top wineries in California.
All of these regions are also designated as American Viticultural Areas, or AVAs. An AVA is a U.S. wine grape region distinguishable by geographic features, with boundaries defined by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, which is part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. As of January 2010, there were 198 AVAs in the United States, with the vast majority in California.
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