Russian River Valley AVA to be split into smaller appellations?

WINE TALK
1

Just spotted this article in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
Russian River Valley appellation to split into smaller regions

Of course the Green Valley portion of RRV is already a separate AVA, but it sounds like as many as four more areas could be headed toward AVA status: Middle Reach, Laguna Ridge, Santa Rosa Plain, and Sebastopol Hills. And if things are not already confusing enough, these areas are all part of the Sonoma Coast AVA as well.

What do people here think about this proposed division of Russian River Valley into a number of smaller AVAs?

Edit: Just read one of the comments to the article and it looks like there is no imminent push toward creating new AVAs, but it seems like it would only be a matter of time…

2

Middle Reach? Sounds like something from Harry Potter. lol This could keep going until nobody has a clue where the grapes were from in their bottle.

3

I do think these (sub) areas are unique, and we have the Middle Reach tag listed on one of our RRV Pinots already, but I do wonder whether too many AVA’s gets overwhelming for the consumer…

Although, on second thought the endless debating about the various villages in Burgundy (and elsewhere) seems to work for the French, and their fans…

4

It makes perfect sense to me. The area is very diverse in terms of soil and weather. It would possibly create a prestige issue for some in a positive way and others negatively. I wonder if in part it is a growers rebuttal to adding Two Rock Ranch to the AVA. The TRR is more a Petaluma Gap site than RRV. Merely saying RRV on the label isn’t very informative any longer. It will be interesting to see if this grabs hold.

5

I think Green Valley is a perfect example of why not to do it.

It means nothing to 99.999% of the wine world. And I like the wines from there.

6

You can’t just say “Green Valley”, you must say:

“Green Valley of the Russian River Valley”

And I presume these new sub AVA’s will be the same i.e. “Middle Reach of the Russian River Valley”…

7

Middle Reach of the Russian River Valley sounds more like Tolkien than Harry Potter, IMHO.

Bruce

8

Thank you for making my point for me. neener

I understand the technical reasons for wanting to do it. Someone want to explain how this builds the brand?

9

That doesn’t seem to be true with sub-AVAs in WA and OR. We say “Yakima Valley” and not “Yakima Valley of the Columbia Valley”. Or are these appellations different?

10

Complex geologically and climatically. An area I love - some of the world’s most iconic historic vineyards, and great Zins and Pinots are sourced here.

If it helps wine lovers understand this unique area better - I’m all for it.

11

They officially changed the name to GVoRRV

12

Green Valley is an unusual example though - there is also a Solano County Green Valley AVA in California (established earlier than the RRV one) so it was necessary for the names to clearly distinguish between the two.

13

…

Don’t forget effective this year every Sonoma County porduced wine needs to have Sonoma County on the label (ex:)
X Vineyard
Sonoma Coast
Sonoma County

14

Subregions can make sense if there are true differences in the terroirs. However, it can be just an excuse to raise prices.
[snort.gif]

15

Yep. We’re actually taking Green Valley (of Russian River Valley) off our wines from Green Valley, and just going with Russian River Valley.

16

True for us, but for civilians still highly marketable.

I’m all for it, and shouldn’t add any confusion for wines marketed to the non-geek crowd which I assume can still label just RRV, much like the conversation we recently had regarding Petaluma Gap/Sonoma Coast.

For us, most of the wines that matter are single-vineyard designated anyway so we have the ultimate granularity already.