Most wine professionals know that to label a wine with an American Viticultural Area (AVA), at least 85% of the wine must come from that region. But how does a grape-growing region earn AVA status? Recently, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) approved the San Luis Rey Read more…
Last week, the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) held a press conference at its headquarters in Dijon, France, releasing the highly anticipated 2023 preliminary report on the global state of the vine and wine industry. This annual report provides comprehensive insights into the previous year’s global grape production, Read more…
The holidays were spent with family in Arizona, including a few days in Tucson. As my interest in the wine industry continues to grow, it was inevitable that I would be exploring Arizona’s grape and wine production. Also, contrary to popular belief, Arizona has been a significant center of wine Read more…
Are you part of the wine industry and in search of local data to enrich your website or provide valuable insights for your wine tasting and tours? Perhaps you are a wine writer or an industry professional seeking specific information about a particular wine region. Look no further than AVA Read more…
Are you a wine or tourist organization interested in creating or updating your regional wine map? A detailed map featuring wineries and vineyards within a particular region is an indispensable communication and marketing tool. This holds especially true for organizations that promote and endorse wine regions across the United States recognized Read more…
For wine associations supporting American Viticultural Areas (AVAs), the value of a precise and user-friendly map cannot be understated. This article outlines a comprehensive approach to creating custom AVA maps that display the vineyards and wineries using Google Maps. The Petaluma Gap Wine Growers Alliance (PGWA) was working with an Read more…
The Winkler Index, also known as the Winkler Scale, is a measure for classifying wine regions based on the heat summation or growing degree days over a season. The index was developed by professors Albert Winkler and Maynard Amerine at UC Davis in the 1940s after prohibition. The purpose of Read more…
I was creating an AVA map for a regional association when I realized there are multiple data sources for mapping boundaries. Besides TTB, there is another source for spatial files of boundaries, the American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) Digitizing Project. It was 2017, and wineries were using designated grape-growing regions on Read more…
Are you a California winery looking for local data to enhance your website, or provide context for your wine tour? Are you a wine writer or an industry professional and need information on a specific wine region? Websites of regional wine associations can be an important local data source for Read more…
How do wine consumers and tourists find information on local wineries? They often find the websites of regional wine associations. According to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), there are 147 established American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) in California. About half of these designated wine-grape growing regions are supported by regional winery Read more…