Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/708909
34 WINES&VINES August 2016 VIEWPOINT TTB undertake such a classification scheme, but by recognizing official vineyard boundaries, TTB would enhance the integrity and the relevance of vineyard designations and give wine critics and consumers reliable and verifiable informa- tion for their own classifications. Experimentation and Innovation From the outset of the appellation program, Americans have consistently rejected rigid farming and production controls such as those found in the French appellations d'origine con- trôlées (AOCs). ATF's early proposals for seal wines and controlled appellations were widely criticized and quickly abandoned. For a New World country that is still actively exploring its terroir and developing traditions and culture, rigid appellation controls run the risk of stifling innovation and impeding prod- uct development. There is also a real risk that we might make the wrong decisions and be unable to readily reverse them. While it is not in the American DNA to dictate to farmers what grape varieties are to be planted where or to control the art of winemaking, it is part of our culture to ex- periment. Being local by definition, the vintner-grower appellation associations now established in many AVAs are well positioned to lead these experiments. I would not be surprised if someday a vintner-grower group were to adopt a volun- tary, private program covering grapegrowing and winemaking practices and a tasting of the finished wines as part of a collective effort to enhance the expression of the AVA's most dis- tinctive wines. Winemaker Warren Winiarski believes that this is what Napa Valley's sub-AVAs should do: investigate the distinctive character of their wines and, if it can be identified, take steps in farming and winemaking to enhance the expression of that character. This might include standards for rootstock and clonal selections, specific viticul- tural and winemaking practices, and standards for volatile acidity, acid and sugar levels, and even alcohol level—surely a hot topic. Highly extracted, alcoholic wines diminish, if not obliterate, distinctiveness and the sense of terroir. Whether the agreed upon practices and standards to enhance terroir expression become part of a cahier des charges (technical specifications) for a particular AVA's wines, as they are for all French AOC wines, will be for future generations to decide. There will no doubt be strong resistance to encroaching on individual freedom. These are the kinds of local, private, volun- tary and experimental programs that will keep our AVAs vibrant and meaningful in the fu- ture—without any governmental involvement or interference. It is not TTB's mission or its responsibility to make an individual AVA (or an individual vineyard) meaningful to consum- ers or successful. The growers and vintners of each AVA are responsible for that. AVAs are created by the federal govern- ment, but they succeed only with the ongoing cooperation of local vintners and growers united in the effort to make the best wines from their distinctive terroirs and dedicated to the promotion and protection of the AVA. Richard Mendelson is a wine lawyer at Dickenson, Peat- man & Fogarty in Napa, Calif. He also directs the Wine Law and Policy Program at UC Berkeley Law School. His previous books include From Demon to Darling: A Legal History of Wine in America and Wine in America: Law and Policy. Your success is our prioritY I believe that the TTB can—and must—take steps to enhance the credibility of U.S. appellations. http://www.angelfire.com/ca5/RandDGlass