Wine Appellations | AVA's in California Wine Country
Estated Bottle Wine | Reserve Wine

What is a Wine Appellations or American Viticultural Area?

When you visit a set of wineries on our tours, you will be in areas that have been designated official wine growing regions called American Viticultural Areas (AVAs). Here are some important ideas that will help you understand what the meaning is of these wine growing regions.

Instead of Appellations, the United States uses the term American Viticultural Areas or AVA for short.

AVAs are “official” grape growing regions that have been designated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF).

When an AVA is designated on the wine bottle’s label, 85% of that wine must come from the AVA.

AVAs are geographic locations that have the same climate, soil, and elevation and similar properties that give the wine a certain characteristic. For an example of these characteristics view the Rockpile AVA in northern Sonoma Country.

Just because a wine comes from a specific AVA does not indicate anything about the quality of the wine.

An AVA is considered a type of Appellation. The term appellation is often used instead of AVA. However, not all appellations are designated an AVA by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.

Any region in the United States can apply to become an AVA.

There can be sub-AVAs which means there can be several AVA’s designated within a larger AVA area. Example: The Napa Valley is an AVA, but there are smaller areas located within the Napa Valley that have an AVA. The Rutherford AVA is a small geographic area located within the Napa AVA.

Since an AVA is based on geographic regions, about all you can tell is what varietals are suited for growing in a particular AVA. Read, study, and taste wine. Don’t rely solely on the fact that a wine comes from a certain AVA. Rely on your knowledge and tasting experience.

For more information on American Viticultural Areas: The Wine Institute

Estate Bottled Wines

When you visit a winery, you may hear the winery staff talk about their estate bottled wine. Or, you may see the term on the wine label. Here is exactly what “Estated Bottled” wines means.

When a wine has Estate Bottled on its label it must meet the requirements of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF). To be Estate wine, the wine must come from grapes grown entirely on the premises of the winery. The wine must be made and bottled at the winery.

Reserve Wines

When you visit a winery, you may hear the winery staff talk about their reserve wines. Here is how the term “Reserve” can be used.

The term Reserve wine has no legal meaning in the United States. Usually, but not always, a winery will use the term Reserve for the bottling of a special wine. Typically these wines are of higher quality and/or of limited production. On the other hand, the term Reserve can be used as a marketing strategy and may not be special in any way.

For more information on particular AVAs or California wine appellations and California wine we recommend Wine Spectator's “California Wine” by James Laube.