Sunday’s edition of the Mercury News announced the formal recognition of a new AVA, Tracy Hills, located in California.

An AVA is an American Viticultural Area, which essentially is a de-limited geographic area, which has a common set of characteristics that tie the area together and set it apart from other ares with respect to its wine growing capabilities.

All potential AVAs must be submitted to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau for approval and some do not gain recognition. While other countries have their own geographical wine regions, AVAs are specific to the U.S. There are presently about 200 AVAs in the U.S., with new ones being added from time to time, as in the case of Tracy Hills. The use of an AVA on the wine’s label is limited to wines with a minimum of 85% of grapes grown in that AVA.

Unlike their counterparts in Europe, American winemakers are not bound by a set of viticultural and vinification rules within their given AVA. American vineyards and wineries are free to plant whichever grape varieties in whatever manner they choose. Conversely, the vineyard owner in Bordeaux or Burgundy is limited, by law, in plantings, vine density, yield, vinification techniques and other wine producing parameters, if they wish to include their appellation of origin on their labels.

An AVA such as Tracy Hills doesn’t have much name recognition now, but many of the AVAs within the Sonoma and Napa Valleys are well-known and help to sell the wine by virtue of their presence on the label. However, in America, brand names (i.e. Mondavi, Gallo) seem to hold more importance for the consumer than grape origin, especially if the wine is varietally-labeled.