New World
United States wine
Dominated by California, but with significant cool-climate production in Oregon, Washington and New York.
Overview
The United States uses American Viticultural Areas (AVAs), administered by the TTB. An AVA delimits an area but — unlike European appellations — does not dictate grape varieties, yields or winemaking methods.
California accounts for the large majority of US production. Napa Valley is its best-known region for Cabernet Sauvignon; Sonoma, the Russian River Valley and the Santa Rita Hills are important for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
Oregon’s Willamette Valley is a significant cool-climate Pinot Noir region, and Washington State, on the dry eastern side of the Cascades, produces structured Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah under irrigation.
The Judgement of Paris tasting in 1976, in which Californian wines placed ahead of French benchmarks in a blind comparison, is conventionally treated as the moment New World wine gained international credibility.
Enormously varied. In California, the dominant moderating force is cold Pacific water and the fog and wind it generates, which is why proximity to a gap in the coastal ranges matters more than latitude.
Regions
mediterranean · warm
California
The source of roughly four-fifths of American wine, and a state long enough that its coolest vineyards and its hottest are 900 km apart.
continental · cool
New York State
A cold-climate eastern state whose serious wine depends entirely on large bodies of water keeping the vines alive through winter.
maritime · cool
Oregon
A cool, wet, marginal state that bet on Pinot Noir in the 1960s when the conventional wisdom said it could not be done.
continental · warm
Washington State
A desert on the dry side of the Cascades, where almost every vine depends on irrigation and the sun shines for two hours a day longer than in Napa.
Wines
Grapes grown here
Reading the label
Terms that appear on United States labels, with the meaning they carry there specifically.
| Term | What it means | Legal status |
|---|---|---|
| AVA | An American Viticultural Area — a place, with no rules about what you do there. | legally defined |
| Contains sulfites | A mandatory allergen declaration, not a warning about quality. | legally defined |
| Estate Bottled | One of the few US label terms with a real legal definition. | legally defined |
| Old Vine | Almost universally undefined — a claim rather than a standard. | not defined |
| Reserve | Legally meaningless in the United States. | not defined |
| Varietal labelling | Naming a grape on a US label requires a minimum proportion of it. | legally defined |
Sources
Sources consulted
- American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) — Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), US Department of the Treasury
- UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology — University of California, Davis