Just saw that the ruling was published about an hour ago in the Federal Register.
T.D. TTB–82, Establishment of the Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara Viticultural Area, published in the Federal Register on October 8, 2009. This new 23,941-acre AVA is located in Santa Barbara County, California, and is within the existing Central Coast and Santa Ynez Valley AVAs. This new AVA will be described in 27 CFR 9.217, and the final rule is effective on November 9, 2009.
This AVA attempts to designate the far eastern edge of the Santa Ynez Valley as a site more appropriate to warm climate, and specifically Bordeaux, varietals. Currently the highest SBCounty per-ton and per-acre price for Sauv Blanc and the 5 red Bordeaux varietals are paid in this area. Current vineyards include Three Creek, Dierberg, Vogelzang, McKinley, Grissini, and others. At least 20 wineries statewide source fruit from the new boundaries of the Happy Canyon of SB AVA.
I foresee two more AVA’s in Santa Barbara County in the next decade: Los Alamos and Ballard Canyon.
This is my second petition to be approved, and I hope my third is Ballard Canyon. Oh well, my snips are getting cold, back to snipping 115 PN for Siduri. Fruit’s looking beautiful!
Love the Geddy Quote–just saw Rush for the 17th time in LA–who do we need to get laid to get them into the rock and roll hall of fame?
Jann Wenner - why don’t all you SRH/SYV/SLO/PR boys go down to LA and drop trou at the Rolling Stone office? Bring bottles - you’ll need them.
Great Job, Wes!
Looks like Santa Barbara has better luck than Paso in subdividing into more specific sub AVAs.
The key is doing them one at a time, not tossing 16 at the fridge and see what sticks. (They took the fridge away for a little while to punish us all for their transgression.)
Cheers!
“I will choose the path that’s clear, I will choose free will.” Neil the drum gawd.
I’d probably be offended except that Wenner’s insistence on giving a crappy Mick Jagger solo record 5 starts pretty much revealed him to… have a soft spot… or something. I thought RS was up here in the Bay Area, but I don’t know. At least he publishes Matt Taibbi and gave up on dissing Phish.
If Rush isn’t in the R&R Hall of Fame, then it is a worthless POS. Alex Lifeson could have slept with Wenner 10-20 years ago to take care of this nonsense, but now he’s out of shape. Alas.
And if Wes Hagen doesn’t end up in the Central Coast Winemakers Hall of Fame, then it would be a worthless POS, too. He ought to be a curator, no? Congratulations on the AVA, Wes.
Can you do something about the absurd non-coastal parts of the Sonoma Coast AVA next? I know it isn’t your backyard, but still.