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An American Viticultural Area (AVA) is a delimited grape-growing region distinguishable by geographic features, with boundaries defined by the United States government's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). The TTB defines these areas at the request of wineries and other petitioners. There are 187 AVAs currently in the US as of April 2007.^[1] Prior to the installation of the AVA system, wine appellations were designated based on state and county boundaries. All of these appellations were grandfathered in and maybe appear on wine labels as designated places of origins but these appellations are distinct from actual AVAs. They range in size from the Ohio River Valley AVA at 26,000 square miles (67,300 km²) across four states, to the Cole Ranch AVA in Mendocino County, California, at only 62 acres (25 hectares). The Augusta AVA in Augusta, Missouri was the first recognized AVA, gaining the status on June 20, 1980.^[2]

Unlike most European appellations, an AVA specifies only a location; it is loosely equivalent to the Italian Indicazione Geografica Tipica in that regard. It does not limit the type of grapes grown, the method of vinification, or the yield, for example. Some of those factors may, however, be used by the petitioner when defining an AVA's boundaries.

Contents 1 Requirements 2 Current areas 2.1 List of California AVAs 2.2 List of Pacific Northwest AVAs 2.3 List of East Coast AVAs 2.4 List of Central US AVAs 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

Current regulations impose the following additional requirements on an AVA:

• Evidence that the name of the proposed new AVA is locally or nationally known as referring to the area;
• Historical or current evidence that the boundaries are legitimate;
• Evidence that growing conditions such as climate, soil, elevation, and physical features are distinctive;

Petitioners are required to provide such information when applying for a new AVA, and are also required to use USGS maps to both describe (using terms from the map) and depict the boundaries.

Once an AVA is established, at least 85% of the grapes used to make a wine must be grown in the specified area if an AVA is referenced on its label.

State or county boundaries — such as for Oregon or Napa County — are not AVAs, even though they are used to identify the source of a wine. AVAs are reserved for situations where a geographically defined area has been using the name and it has come to be identified with that area.

A vineyard may be in more than one AVA. For example, the Santa Clara Valley AVA and Livermore Valley AVAs are located within the territory of the San Francisco Bay AVA, which is itself located within the Central Coast AVA.

The following is a listing of AVAs, broken down by region:

A list of American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) in the state of California:

Alexander Valley Alta Mesa Anderson Valley Arroyo Grande Valley Arroyo Seco Atlas Peak Ben Lomond Mountain Benmore Valley Bennett Valley Borden Ranch California Shenandoah Valley Capay Valley Carmel Valley Central Coast Chalk Hill Chalone Chiles Valley Cienega Valley Clarksburg Clear Lake Clements Hills Cole Ranch Cosumnes River Covelo Cucamonga Valley Diablo Grande Diamond Mountain District Dos Rios Dry Creek Valley Dunnigan Hills Edna Valley El Dorado Fair Play Fiddletown Green Valley of Russian River Valley Guenoc Valley

Hames Valley High Valley Howell Mountain Jahant Knights Valley Leona Valley Lime Kiln Valley Livermore Valley Lodi Los Carneros Madera Malibu-Newton Canyon McDowell Valley Mendocino Mendocino Ridge Merritt Island Mokelumne River Monterey Mt. Harlan Mt. Veeder Napa Valley North Coast North Yuba Northern Sonoma Oak Knoll District Oakville Pacheco Pass Paicines Paso Robles Potter Valley Ramona Valley Red Hills Lake County Redwood Valley River Junction Rockpile Russian River Valley

Rutherford Saddle Rock - Malibu Salado Creek San Antonio Valley San Bernabe San Benito San Francisco Bay San Lucas San Pasqual Valley San Ysidro District Santa Clara Valley Santa Cruz Mountains Santa Lucia Highlands Santa Maria Valley Santa Ynez Valley Seiad Valley Sierra Foothills Sloughhouse Solano County Green Valley Sonoma Coast Sonoma Mountain Sonoma Valley South Coast Spring Mountain District St. Helena Sta. Rita Hills Stags Leap District Suisun Valley Temecula Valley Tracy Hills Trinity Lakes Wild Horse Valley Willow Creek York Mountain Yorkville Highlands Yountville

A list of American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) in the Pacific Northwest states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho:

A list of American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) on the East Coast of the United States:

Catoctin, Maryland Cayuga Lake, New York Central Delaware Valley, New Jersey & Pennsylvania Cumberland Valley, Maryland & Pennsylvania Finger Lakes, New York Hudson River Region, New York Lake Erie , New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania Lancaster Valley, Pennsylvania

Linganore, Maryland Long Island, New York Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts Monticello, Virginia Niagara Escarpment, New York North Fork of Long Island, New York North Fork of Roanoke, Virginia Northern Neck George Washington Birthplace, Virginia Outer Coastal Plain, New Jersey Rocky Knob, Virginia Seneca Lake, New York

Shenandoah Valley, Virginia and West Virginia Southeastern New England, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island The Hamptons, Long Island, New York Virginia's Eastern Shore, Virginia Warren Hills, New Jersey Western Connecticut Highlands, Connecticut Yadkin Valley, North Carolina

A list of the remaining American Viticultural Areas (AVAs), not on the West or East Coasts:

Alexandria Lakes, Minnesota Altus, Arkansas Arkansas Mountain, Arkansas Augusta, Missouri Bell Mountain, Texas Escondido Valley, Texas Fennville, Michigan Fredericksburg in the Texas Hill Country, Texas Grand River Valley, Ohio Grand Valley, Colorado Hermann, Missouri

Isle St. George, Ohio Kanawha River Valley, West Virginia Lake Michigan Shore, Michigan Lake Wisconsin, Wisconsin Leelanau Peninsula, Michigan Loramie Creek, Ohio Mesilla Valley, New Mexico and Texas Middle Rio Grande Valley, New Mexico Mimbres Valley, New Mexico Mississippi Delta, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee Ohio River Valley, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia

Old Mission Peninsula, Michigan Ozark Highlands, Missouri Ozark Mountain, Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma Shawnee Hills, Illinois Shenandoah Valley, Virginia and West Virginia Sonoita, Arizona Texas Davis Mountains, Texas Texas High Plains, Texas Texas Hill Country, Texas Texoma, Texas West Elks, Colorado

• Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée
• Indicazione Geografica Tipica
• American wine

• Appellations of Origin from the TTB website
• AVAs with links to detailed descriptions, from the Code of Federal Regulations located at a Cornell website
• Listing of AVAs from a wine lover's website