Word: ava
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...very scientific-minded when he was growing up," said Ava Gulick, his sophomore biology teacher at Pendleton High...
What riles Joe Heitz involves a subject that mystifies many oenophiles, even though millions of marketing dollars are affected: American Viticultural Areas, often informally called appellations. Heitz is prominent among the winemakers who are fighting a proposal put forward by many of his neighboring vintners that would designate new AVAs within the Napa Valley. As the nation's most prestigious wine-producing area, the lush valley north of San Francisco is entitled to an AVA, which Napa's wine producers proudly display on their labels. But partly because the valley's vineyards have proliferated from 40 in the early 1970s...
Most winemakers favor AVAs in theory. Top-of-the-line varietals (wines named for the specific grapes used to make them) reap the industry's biggest profits these days. But Napa vineyards can cost $50,000 an acre, and prime grapes go for as much as $1,800 a ton in good years; accordingly, vintners argue that labeling a bottle as the product of a prestigious AVA like Napa Valley or Sonoma County makes the wine more appealing to buyers. Vintners whose acreage lies within the suggested borders of the four new Napa appellations (Rutherford, Rutherford Bench, Oakville and Oakville...
...Under AVA rules, growers first petition BATF to declare an appellation; then the bureau conducts public hearings on such matters as the area's grape- growing history and distinguishing topography. When the bureau approves an AVA, it sets the appellation's boundaries. Critics charge that some BATF decisions seem motivated by a political need to please as many winemakers as possible, rather than a concern for quality. Opponents of the Napa Valley's proposed AVAs charge that the new boundaries would exclude some of the best vineyards and that there is no historical justification for referring to any part...
Earlier this year, when BATF was considering a Stag's Leap AVA for the southern part of the valley, the modest (49 acres) S. Anderson winery spent nearly $40,000 to make the case that it belongs inside the boundaries. "Appellations like Stag's Leap are going to have more meaning in the future," says marketing director John Anderson. P.S.: his vineyard made the district...