[1] Legislation affecting all kinds of alcohol beverages, such as the legal drinking age and licensing practices related to distribution and sales, are usually not considered wine laws.
[2] Various wine laws, however, may include appellation-based regulations that cover boundaries as well as permitted grape varieties and winemaking practice-such as the French Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC), Italian Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC), Spanish Denominación de Origen (DO) and Portuguese Denominação de Origem Controlada (DOC).
Domitian's edict, while probably not followed to any greater extent, stayed in effect for 188 years until Emperor Probus repealed the measure in 280.
The French wine legislation later evolved to the AOC system, and inspired common European Union regulations.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) defines and approves applications for regions to become American Viticultural Areas.
[10] In addition to AVAs, every American state and county can produce wine and label it under their state/county wide appellation provided at least 75% of the grapes come from that area.