American Viticultural Area

An American Viticultural Area (AVA) is a designated wine grape-growing region in the United States, providing an official appellation for the mutual benefit of wineries and consumers.

[1] Since 1980, the boundaries of AVAs were defined by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), an independent bureau within the United States Department of the Treasury that received and handled petitions for viticultural areas, wine production and labeling.

On January 2003, under the provisions of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, the ATF was extensively reorganized and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) was created to oversee wine production, labeling and viticultural areas.

Petitions to establish an AVA must include the following: Once a petition is accepted as complete, the TTB may choose to seek public input on the proposal and at its sole discretion may approve the proposed AVA.

All of these appellations were grandfathered into federal regulations and may appear on wine labels as designated places of origin in lieu of an AVA, such as Sonoma County.

In 2018, the second session of the 115th Congress recognized the contribution of American Viticultural Areas to the economy.