AVAs and brand names

Wines & Vines, August, 2007 by Alex Heckathorn

Editor:

To put this story (Two Brands Stall Calistoga AVA, winesandvines.com Headlines) into some perspective: A number of AVA petitions have been delayed due to problems that an AVA name affects an established brand name. The most famous example is the Santa Rita Hills, and also, Stags Leap District and Oak Knoll District of Napa Valley. Then there was a recent situation in Oregon with Chehalem Mountains and Eola-Amity Hills, which both had conflicts with established brand names.

As my colleague Sara Schorske wrote many years ago: The establishment of AVAs has always been a somewhat controversial subject, with vintners differing-sometimes strongly-about where boundary lines belong, about how the approval of a proposed area may affect existing brand names in the industry and even about how many AVAs the system can support.

When proposing a new AVA, the proponents should be aware of brand names they may affect by the choice of their name. It should come as no surprise that the owner would object to the loss of its established brand name, and TTB has always tried to be judicious and Solomon-like in achieving a result that harms no one.

s/ Alex Heckathorn

Compliance Service of America