AVA questions to think about...?

[Don Giovanni]

AVA questions to think about...???

How transparent is a wine made from two different AVA's...?

Would you care ?

Could you tell ?

If the wine was good would it matter ?

What of the winemaker who makes wine from the grapes of two States would you really know ?

Just how important is one AVA if it gets diluted and blended with another AVA to the point of...oh no....a lost sense of place, but great wine...???...what a conundrum...???...

[Hector]

It's a small loss that the AVA system doesn't have quality rules that specify thing like "maximum yield" and other production related things, in individual AVAs (of course these rules should vary with style of wine and climate). This could give individual AVAs higher quality.

Those AVAs who use their climate and niche themself in certain styles of wine I think is always more interesting. Like Russian River Pinot Noir or Sonoma Mountain Cabernet.

[Larry McGourty]

The biggest problems with AVA's are they inevitably become political, as it happening right now in California. In theory they should demarcate terroirs, in practice that is not always the case. Sometimes they can also be confusing. For example, vineyards along the Russian River in Mendocino have a distinctly different climate than those in Sonoma where the AVA is located.

All in all, I think they are useful since they do give an indication of what we might expect in a wine from a particular AVA.

[Don Giovanni]

The biggest problems with AVA's are they inevitably become political, as it happening right now in California. In theory they should demarcate terroirs, in practice that is not always the case. Sometimes they can also be confusing. For example, vineyards along the Russian River in Mendocino have a distinctly different climate than those in Sonoma where the AVA is located.

All in all, I think they are useful since they do give an indication of what we might expect in a wine from a particular AVA.

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I agree that in CA they have things very crazy...AVA's in AVA's...I took notice of this on my first trip to that region...so how hard is it for the average person who is not ITB wine...very...it could take many conversations until you go to the wineries you would like...people should do their homework way before they ever go to any new AVA...crazy or not...they all seem a bit confusing to the 101'er...Cheers !!!