ALSO ON THE AVA MAP - SANTA BARBARA COUNTY ©

            One of the panel presenters of the keynote session at the recent WiVi (see prior posts) event was John Kochis. Formerly a Gallo exec, he now runs Gemini Consulting with a focus on brand building for the wine industry. He has been involved with developing the idea of doing in Santa Barbara's AVA what was discussed in my prior posting regarding the effort to do so in Paso Robles.

The pie in Santa Barbara would sliced as shown below.

Santa Maria Valley, primarily Rhone and Burgundian style wines. 117K acres, 8 planted and 11 wineries with tasting rooms. Au Bon Climat, Foxen, Kenneth Volk, Cambria, Bien Nacido are familiar names of note that fall within that district.

Santa Ynez Valley, contains 182K acres with 3,900 under vines. The proposed subsets within that viticultural area would consist of - Santa Rita Hills, Burgundian style wines with  59 vineyards with 27 hundred acres planted. Sanford, Alma Rosa, Melville & Sea Smoke among the well known wineries and tasting rooms are common. Happy Canyon has an emphasis on Bordeaux style wines and 25,700  acres of which 360 are planted but has no tasting rooms. Ballard Canyon has a Rhone varietal focus with 561 acres in production but only one tasting room. However, some well know producers from here include Stolpman, Beckman, Jonata, Rusack & Larner. Los Olivos District (may be granted status this year) has by far the biggest concentration of tasting rooms (40+) and includes  22,800acres with 1,120 planted. Both Bordeaux and Rhone style varietals are grown here. You may be familiar with such examples as Gainey, Bridlewood, Sunstone, Brander & Buttonwood.

John pointed out that people don't know AVAs until they become a brand. The idea being to dance with the one you brung. Never forget the larger brand and market it on the label. This was the conjunctive labeling mentioned in my prior post. But, in order to do that, you must seek permission to include both the subset and the overall AVA on the label. A case in point is how Napa, which has many sub-AVAs, is the place that is known. So much so that it has replaced Bordeaux as the most recognized wine region, worldwide. Had they only used the sub-AVA, that may not have happened. The market is not as aware of Rutherford Bench as they are of Napa Valley. His council was to taste by AVA but note the mother ship, educate with a focus on the unique sense of place & why it is so. But don't forget to have a champion and that is the name the market knows.

RED CARPET PREMIER FOR PASO'S ELEVEN? WHO NEEDS CLOONEY? ©

            The Paso Robles AVA (American Viticultural Area) gained recognition thirty two years ago. Since then, additional areas were included in 1997 and 2009. It has been a region of great growth, now the third largest in terms of the number of wineries, and as a center for Rhone varietals, Zinfandel and Cabernet. It was named Wine Region of 2013 by Wine Enthusiast magazine. But, is it all really the same AVA or a series of subsets? It is, after all one of the largest AVAs in the country.

This discussion had been ongoing even before 2007, when conjunctive labeling was agreed to.  More on that concept in my next posting, about similar sub-AVA ideas in the Santa Barbara area. A great deal of time and effort was contributed by a small committee and supported by a representative board  group of 59 winemakers and growers. The group has defined eleven distinct terroir based areas within the north San Luis Obispo county that make up the Paso Robles AVA and submitted the proposal through government channels. The final hurdle seems to have been cleared and would result in allowing labels (when the wine meets the defining rules) to include  more distinct areas within the AVA. These proposed districts are as follows: San Miguel, Adelaida, PR Estrella, Geneseo, San Juan Creek, PR Willow Creek, Pomar, Creston, PR Canyon Ranch, Templeton Gap and Santa Margarita Ranch, including the 2009 addition to the overall AVA on the south. The York Mountain designation remains as a stand-alone AVA.  

The process requires public comment and 47 supportive responses were received prior to the January 21, 2014 closing date and a timeline for implementation has been approved. Considering that it took 18 months to prepare the 1,000 page submission document, this was good news indeed.