Monday, Sep. 15, 2008

Lake Chelan gets closer to AVA in Washington

By Wine Press Northwest

The federal government has moved the Lake Chelan American Viticultural Area one step closer to reality, as it has opened the proposal for comments, which can be submitted until Oct. 14.

Washington has nine AVAs: Columbia Valley, Yakima Valley, Walla Walla Valley, Red Mountain, Horse Heaven Hills, Wahluke Slope, Columbia Gorge, Rattlesnake Hills and Puget Sound.

One proposed AVA, Snipes Mountain, is in the pipeline ahead of Chelan.

And there is a potential controversy for the proposed Lake Chelan AVA. Under federal rules, a winery whose name includes the name of an AVA must receive at least 85% of its grapes from that AVA. This was an issue in Oregon with two AVAs: Eola-Amity Hills (which originally was to be called Eola Hills) and Chehalem Mountains. It's an issue right now in Napa with the proposed Calistoga AVA.

Wineries with such names earn a "grandfather" clause - essentially a government pass - if they were in business prior to July 7, 1986.

No fewer than five wineries use "Chelan" in their names. There's also the issue of Tsillan Cellars, whose name is pronounced "Chelan" but is spelled differently. All of these wineries opened in the past few years, so none would get a grandfather clause to use more than 15% of their grapes from outside of the proposed AVA.

Not many grapes are yet grown in the Chelan area, which is within the greater Columbia Valley AVA. Those vineyards in production tend to be grown by wineries for their own use.

There are 13 wineries and 150 acres of grapes planted in the proposed appellation, which is 24,040 acres in size (compared with 11 million acres in the Columbia Valley and 4,040 for Red Mountain.

Alan Busacca, who put the proposal together for the Chelan growers, has a history of success doing so. He shepherded through the Wahluke Slope AVA and did work on the Horse Heaven Hills AVA. He's also done extensive studies on and work for the Red Mountain, Walla Walla and Columbia Gorge AVAs.

Public comments made be made and scene at www.regulations.gov or sent by letter to Director, Regulations and Rulings, Division, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, P.O. Box 14412, Washington, DC 20044–4412.