What is wine appellation and what is its importance to the wine industry?
An appellation of origin for wine in the U.S. informs consumers of where the grapes are grown that are used to produce a particular wine. Although the U.S. has limited experience with products of place (examples being Indian River navel oranges in my home state of Florida and Maui onions in Hawaii), the influence of grape source on wine is recognized worldwide. Grapes grown in particular sites reflect those natural factors and affect the taste of the wine, otherwise referred to as gout de terroir. Whereas the Old World wine appellations of Europe control both natural and human factors as part of their appellation systems, U.S. wine appellations indicate only the provenance of the grapes. We don’t control the vineyard spacing, clonal selections, grape varieties, harvest date or any other aspect of grape growing or wine production through our appellation system. Moreover, our appellations do not guarantee 100% grape origin from the named appellation. A Lake County Pinot Noir, for example
