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GUEST EDITORIAL Viewpoint We welcome commentaries from readers on issues of current interest in the wine industry. Send your topic idea to edit@winesandvines.com, and we'll contact you. AVAs Are Powerful Tools for Wineries By Jason Haas N early seven years after it was submitted, we received news in late September that the petition to establish 11 American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) within the current Paso Robles AVA has been published for comments. This is the critical step at which the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) has reviewed all the geological, climatological and historical information presented in the petitions and determined that they pass muster. It's an important validation of the proposed AVAs and boundaries, and the last step before final approval. The level of scientific research that went into the AVA proposal was exceptional, and the broad cross-section of the Paso Robles wine community involved in its submission unprecedented. The Paso Robles AVA Committee included 59 different grower and winery members from every one of the proposed new AVAs, all of whom shared the considerable expense of preparing and filing the petitions. For the Paso Robles region, the publication for review of our AVA petition is an important milestone. Paso Robles is currently the largest un-subdivided AVA in California at approximately 614,000 acres. By contrast, the Napa Valley appellation (which includes 16 AVAs within its bounds) is roughly one-third the area at 225,000 acres. When the Paso Robles AVA was first proposed and approved in 1983, it contained only five bonded wineries and less than 5,000 acres of vineyard. Swaths of the AVA were untouched by grapevines. Now, Paso Robles encompasses some 280 wineries and 32,000 vineyard acres. This acreage stretches 42 miles east to west and 32 miles north to south. Average rainfall varies from more than 30 inches per year in extreme western sections to less than 10 inches in areas farther east. Elevations range from 700 feet to more than 2,400 feet. Soils differ dramatically in different parts of the AVA, from the highly calcareous hills out west to sand, loam and alluvial soils in the Estrella River basin. The warmest parts of the AVA accumulate roughly 20% more heat (measured by growing degree-days) than the coolest, a difference in temperatures large enough to make the cooler parts of the AVA a Winkler Region II in the University of California, Davis, scale of heat summation, while the warmest sections are a Winkler Region IV. This is the equivalent difference between regions like Bordeaux or Alsace (both Winkler II areas) and Jumilla or Priorat (both Winkler IV areas). The scientific grounds for subdivision are clear. Yes, Paso Robles shares some important characteristics, including a 40º-50º F diurnal temperature variation, a relatively warm climate with limited incursion of (Continued on page 81.) 82 W in es & V i ne s DEC E M be r 20 13