[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 62 (Friday, March 31, 1995)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 16576-16579]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-7893]



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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms

27 CFR Part 9

[TD ATF-362; Re: Notice No. 802]
RIN 1512-AA07


Cucamonga Valley Viticultural Area (94F-011P)

AGENCY: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), Department of 
the Treasury.

ACTION: Final rule, Treasury decision.

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SUMMARY: This final rule establishes a viticultural area in San 
Bernardino and Riverside Counties, California, to be known as 
``Cucamonga Valley.'' The petition was filed by Gino L. Filippi of J. 
Filippi Vintage Co. on behalf of himself and other growers and wineries 
in the area.
    ATF believes that the establishment of viticultural areas and the 
subsequent use of viticultural area names as appellations of origin in 
wine labeling and advertising allows wineries to designate the specific 
areas where the grapes used to make the wine were grown and enables 
consumers to better identify the wines they purchase.

EFFECTIVE DATE: May 1, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marjorie D. Ruhf, Wine, Beer and 
Spirits Regulations Branch, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, 
650 Massachusetts Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20226 (202-927-8230).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On August 23, 1978, ATF published Treasury Decision ATF-53 (43 FR 
37672, 54624) revising regulations in 27 CFR part 4. These regulations 
allow the establishment of definite American viticultural areas. The 
regulations also allow the name of an approved viticultural area to be 
used as an appellation of origin in the labeling and advertising of 
wine.
    On October 2, 1979, ATF published Treasury Decision ATF-60 (44 FR 
56692) which added a new part 9 to 27 CFR, providing for the listing of 
approved American viticultural areas. Section 4.25a(e)(1), Title 27, 
CFR, defines an American viticultural area as a delimited grape-growing 
region distinguishable by geographical features, the boundaries of 
which have been delineated in subpart C of part 9. Section 4.25a(e)(2) 
outlines the procedure for proposing an American viticultural area. Any 
interested person may petition ATF to establish a grape-growing region 
as a viticultural area. The petition should include:
    (a) Evidence that the name of the proposed viticultural area is 
locally and/or nationally known as referring to the area specified in 
the petition;
    (b) Historical or current evidence that the boundaries of the 
viticultural area are as specified in the petition;
    (c) Evidence relating to the geographical features (climate, soil, 
elevation, physical features, etc.) which distinguish the viticultural 
features of the proposed area from surrounding areas;
    (d) A description of the specific boundaries of the viticultural 
area, based on features which can be found on United States Geological 
Survey (U.S.G.S.) maps of the largest applicable scale; and
    (e) A copy of the appropriate U.S.G.S. map(s) with the boundaries 
prominently marked.

Petition

    ATF received a petition from Gino L. Filippi of J. Filippi Vintage 
Co. proposing to establish a viticultural area in San Bernardino and 
Riverside Counties, California, to be known as ``Cucamonga Valley.'' 
The viticultural area is located in southern California, about 45 miles 
east of the city of Los Angeles. It contains approximately 109,400 
acres. The petitioner states that wine grapes, probably the mission 
variety, were first planted in the Cucamonga Valley in 1839 or 1840, 
``undoubtedly one of the first large plantings of grapes in 
California.'' According to the petitioner the wine industry in the 
Cucamonga Valley grew during the late nineteenth and early twentieth 
centuries, reaching ``its peak in the 1940's and 1950's with over 60 
wineries producing from approximately 35,000 acres.'' Today, there are 
five bonded wineries within the proposed area, and approximately 2,000 
acres are planted to wine grapes. The petitioner notes ``the area's 
great history and heritage of wine growing and winemaking is truly more 
impressive than the number of acres currently farmed.''
    The petition was also signed by Philo Biane of Rancho de Philo 
Winery, Rene Biane of Guasti Plaza, Don Galleano of Galleano Winery, 
Paul Hofer III of Hofer Ranch, LeAnn Smothers of the City of Rancho 
Cucamonga, and Jeff Wilson, of Inland Empire West Resource Conservation 
District.

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

    In response to Mr. Filippi's petition, ATF published a notice of 
proposed rulemaking, Notice No. 802, in the Federal Register on 
December 2, 1994 (59 FR 61853), proposing the establishment of the 
Cucamonga Valley viticultural area. The notice requested comments from 
all interested persons by January 31, 1995.

Comments on Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

    ATF received 15 letters of comment and copies of several newspaper 
articles and a newspaper editorial concerning the proposal to establish 
the Cucamonga Valley viticultural area. All commenters expressed their 
support for establishing the Cucamonga Valley viticultural area as 
proposed in Notice No. 802. Commenters included growers and other local 
business owners, consumers, and government officials.
    The Honorable James L. Brulte, State Assembly Republican Leader, 
wrote to support recognition of Cucamonga Valley as a viticultural 
area. The Honorable Fred Aguiar, State Assemblyman for the Sixty-first 
assembly district, endorsed the establishment of Cucamonga Valley 
viticultural area and wrote further:

    Our region has a long and distinguished history in the 
winegrowing industry and it is highly appropriate that this area be 
recognized for such a distinction.

    The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution 
which read, in part, as follows:

    * * * RESOLVED that the Board of Supervisors of the County of 
San Bernardino, State of California, hereby recognizes the efforts 
of the local wineries and supports the designation of ``CUCAMONGA 
VALLEY'' in advertising and on the labels of wines produced in this 
vicinity.

    The Honorable William J. Alexander, Mayor of Rancho Cucamonga, 
wrote:

    I would like to express our support in establishing the 
Cucamonga Valley as a [[Page 16577]] viticulture area. The City of 
Rancho Cucamonga takes great pride in the fact that the grape 
vineyards and the wineries of our area contributed so much to the 
early history of the region. For this reason, a grape cluster has a 
prominent focus in both the City's seal and logo.

    Allyn B. Scheu of Scheu Manufacturing Company wrote that the 
designation ``will help consumers to identify the origins of the wines 
they buy and will recognize the Cucamonga area's rich heritage of wine 
production.'' Charles L. Keagle, a restauranteur, also supported the 
designation and wrote that ``the history of the area, America's first, 
goes back over 100 years.''
    Columnist Garry Greenberg of the Victorville, California Daily 
Press, sent in a copy of his September 15, 1994 column which reported 
on the filing of the petition, and described the Cucamonga Valley area 
as ``the home of the largest winemaking industry in the world a century 
ago.'' Mr. Greenberg also sent in the text of a column which he planned 
to publish in January 1995, encouraging readers to write in support of 
the proposed area.
    The petitioner mailed in a clipping of an editorial from the Inland 
Valley Daily Bulletin of December 30, 1994, which concluded:

    There are 122 viticultural regions in the United States, and 69 
of them are in California. The next one should be in California 
also, in the ``Cucamonga Valley.''

Evidence of Name

    Evidence that the name Cucamonga Valley is locally and/or 
nationally known as referring to the viticultural area includes:
    (a) Leon D. Adams, in The Wines of America, describes the Cucamonga 
Valley as follows:

    The Cucamonga Valley, forty-five miles east of Los Angeles, has 
grown the bulk of Southern California wine during the present 
century. The vineyard area extends from Ontario east to Fontana and 
from the base of the San Gabriel Mountains southward to the Jurupa 
Hills in Riverside County. The climate, though tempered by winds 
from the ocean, is as warm as the northern San Joaquin Valley and is 
classed as Region IV.

    (b) An article published in The Sun, a San Bernardino, California, 
newspaper, on March 30, 1994, titled ``Fontana winery soaks up more 
awards,'' described awards won by two wines from J. Filippi Vintage Co. 
at a recent competition and stated that the ``Ruby Port is produced 
from Cucamonga Valley grapes, renown for sherry and port wines.''
    (c) A letter dated August 20, 1991, from the San Bernardino County 
Archives to the Riverside County Historical Commission discussed 
designation of the Galleano Winery as a landmark. The letter makes 
several references to the Cucamonga Valley, mentioning locations within 
the proposed area such as Rancho Cucamonga, Fontana, Ontario and Mira 
Loma.

Evidence of Boundaries

    As evidence that the boundaries for the area are as specified in 
the petition, the previously cited excerpt from The Wines of America, 
by Leon D. Adams, states that the vineyard area of the Cucamonga Valley 
``extends from Ontario east to Fontana and from the base of the San 
Gabriel Mountains southward to the Jurupa Hills in Riverside County.'' 
The San Gabriel Mountains form the northern boundary of the proposed 
area, and the Jurupa Hills form the eastern part of the southern 
boundary. The towns of Fontana and Ontario are both within the area.
    The petitioner used the 560' elevation line as the western portion 
of the southern boundary. He states the area south of that elevation 
has poor drainage and is mainly used for dairy farming.
    In support of Euclid Avenue as the western boundary for the 
viticultural area, the petitioner gave historical information. He 
stated that the area west of Euclid Avenue ``was subjected to flooding 
from the San Antonio Canyon. In the 1940's several flood control 
construction projects began to solve the problem. Historically, 
agriculture in this area (Upland, CA) was citrus (lemons and 
oranges).'' He stated that citrus trees were grown there because there 
was a good water source and better drainage than within the 
viticultural area to the east of Euclid Avenue.
    The eastern boundary, made up of Lytle Creek Wash, Warm River, and 
the Santa Ana River, marks a shift in the type of soil and the ability 
of the soils to drain. These characteristics will be discussed in 
detail in the background material on soils.

Geographical Features

    The petitioner describes the viticultural area as follows:

    Cucamonga Valley is an east-west oriented valley. The San 
Gabriel mountains form the valley's northern boundary. The San 
Antonio Creek, Cucamonga Creek, Deer Creek, Day Creek, San Sevaine 
Creeks, from west to east respectively, spread out to form alluvial 
fans as they descend the foothills and emerge in the Cucamonga 
Plain. These fans contain sand and silt deposits that create a rich 
mixture of fertile soil.

    The viticultural area includes the area described above and the 
valley drained by the Cucamonga Creek to the south of this alluvial 
fan. These areas share characteristics of topography, soil composition 
and climate which distinguish the viticultural area from the 
surrounding areas. The petitioner provided the following evidence of 
the area's distinctiveness:

Topography

    The U.S.G.S. topographic maps submitted by the petitioner show the 
viticultural area slopes gradually from 2,000 feet at the northern 
boundary to 560 feet at the southern boundary. The petitioner describes 
the San Gabriel mountains to the north of the proposed area as ``a 
great wall, from 8,000 to 10,000 feet high.'' The Jurupa Mountains to 
the southeast of the area offer another contrast as they rise steeply 
from the valley floor to form part of the southern boundary. The 
balance of the southern boundary, the 560 foot contour line, was chosen 
because the area at lower elevations was poorly drained and was 
traditionally used for dairy farming; furthermore, the nearby Prado Dam 
is scheduled to be raised, so the area to the south of the 560 foot 
contour line will be flooded.

Soil

    According to the petitioner, the soil in the viticultural area is 
``alluvial valley floors, fans and terraces * * * derived from granitic 
rock from the San Gabriel formation in the north.'' He further states 
that the wine grape vineyards in the region are ``found to be located 
on Delhi, Hanford, Tujunga, Gorgonio and Hilmar soil series'' and 
``most vineyards are nearly level to moderately sloping (0-15 deg.).''
    The General Soil Map for southwestern San Bernardino County 
describes these associations as very deep, ``dominantly brownish soils 
that are coarse textured throughout'' and ``somewhat excessively 
drained to excessively drained.'' On this map, the eastern boundary in 
particular is distinguished by a change in the soil composition to the 
Hanford-Greenfield-San Emigdio association, finer textured and less 
well drained than the soils within the proposed area. The mountainous 
areas to the north and southeast of the viticultural area have 
shallower soils over granite, schist and sandstone.

Climate

    The petitioner states that the climate in the area is ``well-suited 
for viticulture * * *. There are relatively few nights below freezing 
in the winter and [[Page 16578]] summer days can be very hot, reaching 
temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.'' The climate is classed as 
Region IV, with a heat summation in the 3,501 to 4,000 degree F. range. 
The petitioner states this corresponds to the Ukiah, Davis and Lodi 
areas of California, and is warmer than the Santa Barbara, Santa Rosa 
and Santa Maria areas to the north and the Temecula and Rancho 
California areas to the south.

Boundary

    The boundary of the Cucamonga Valley viticultural area may be found 
on ten United States Geological Survey (U.S.G.S.) maps with a scale of 
1:24000. The boundary is described in Sec. 9.150.

Miscellaneous

    ATF does not wish to give the impression by approving the Cucamonga 
Valley viticultural area that it is approving or endorsing the quality 
of wine from this area. ATF is approving this area as being distinct 
from surrounding areas, not better than other areas. By approving this 
area, ATF will allow wine producers to claim a distinction on labels 
and advertisements as to origin of the grapes. Any commercial advantage 
gained can only come from consumer acceptance of wines from Cucamonga 
Valley.

Executive Order 12866

    It has been determined that this rule is not a significant 
regulatory action because:
    (1) It will not have an annual effect on the economy of $100 
million or more or adversely affect in a material way the economy, a 
sector of the economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the 
environment, public health or safety, or State, local or tribal 
governments or communities;
    (2) Create a serious inconsistency or otherwise interfere with an 
action taken or planned by another agency;
    (3) Materially alter the budgetary impact of entitlements, grants, 
user fees or loan programs or the rights and obligations of recipients 
thereof; or
    (4) Raise novel legal or policy issues arising out of legal 
mandates, the President's priorities, or the principles set forth in 
Executive Order 12866.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

    It is hereby certified that this regulation will not have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. 
Any benefit derived from the use of a viticultural area name is the 
result of the proprietor's own efforts and consumer acceptance of wines 
from a particular area. No new recordkeeping or reporting requirements 
are imposed. Accordingly, a regulatory flexibility analysis is not 
required.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    The provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, Public Law 
96-511, 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35, and its implementing regulations, 5 CFR 
part 1320, do not apply to this final rule because no requirement to 
collect information is imposed.

Drafting Information

    The principal author of this document is Marjorie D. Ruhf, Wine, 
Beer and Spirits Regulations Branch, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and 
Firearms.

List of Subjects in 27 CFR Part 9

    Administrative practices and procedures, Consumer protection, 
Viticultural areas, and Wine.

Authority and Issuance

    Title 27, Code of Federal Regulations, part 9, American 
Viticultural Areas, is amended as follows:

PART 9--AMERICAN VITICULTURAL AREAS

    Paragraph 1. The authority citation for part 9 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 27 U.S.C. 205.

    Par. 2. Subpart C is amended by adding Sec. 9.150 to read as 
follows:

Subpart C--Approved American Viticultural Areas

* * * * *


Sec. 9.150  Cucamonga Valley.

    (a) Name. The name of the viticultural area described in this 
section is ``Cucamonga Valley.''
    (b) Approved maps. The appropriate maps for determining the 
boundary of the Cucamonga Valley viticultural area are the following 
ten U.S.G.S. topographical maps (7.5 minute series 1:24000 scale):
    (1) ``Mt. Baldy, Calif.,'' 1967, photorevised 1988.
    (2) ``Cucamonga Peak, Calif.,'' 1966, photorevised 1988.
    (3) ``Devore, Calif.,'' 1966, photorevised 1988.
    (4) ``San Bernardino North, Calif.,'' 1967, photorevised 1988.
    (5) ``Ontario, Calif.,'' 1967, photorevised 1981.
    (6) ``Guasti, Calif.,'' 1966, photorevised 1981.
    (7) ``Fontana, Calif.,'' 1967, photorevised 1980.
    (8) ``San Bernardino South, Calif.,'' 1967, photorevised 1980.
    (9) ``Prado Dam, Calif.,'' 1967, photorevised 1981.
    (10) ``Corona North, Calif.,'' 1967, photorevised 1981.
    (c) Boundary. The Cucamonga Valley viticultural area is located in 
San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, California. The boundary is as 
follows:
    (1) The beginning point is the intersection of Euclid Avenue and 
24th Street on the Mt. Baldy, Calif. U.S.G.S. map;
    (2) From the beginning point, the boundary follows 24th Street east 
for approximately 0.3 mile, until it reaches the intersection of 24th 
Street with two unnamed light-duty streets to the north;
    (3) The boundary then diverges from 24th Street and goes straight 
north for approximately 0.3 mile, until it reaches the 2,000 foot 
contour line;
    (4) The boundary then follows the 2,000 foot contour line in a 
generally easterly direction across the Cucamonga Peak, Calif., 
U.S.G.S. map and onto the Devore, Calif., U.S.G.S. map until it reaches 
Lytle Creek Wash;
    (5) The boundary follows the intermittent stream in Lytle Creek 
Wash in a southeasterly direction to the end of the intermittent stream 
on the Devore, Calif., U.S.G.S. map;
    (6) The boundary then continues through Lytle Creek Wash, 
proceeding southeast in a straight line from the end of the 
intermittent stream, across the southwest corner of the San Bernardino 
North, Calif., U.S.G.S. map and onto the San Bernardino, South, Calif., 
U.S.G.S. map, to the northernmost point of the flood control basin at 
the end of the Lytle Creek Wash, a distance of approximately 4.3 miles;
    (7) The boundary then proceeds in a straight line south-southeast 
across the flood control basin to the point where Lytle Creek Channel 
exits the basin;
    (8) The boundary continues along Lytle Creek Channel until it 
empties into Warm Creek;
    (9) The boundary then follows Warm Creek until it meets the Santa 
Ana River;
    (10) The boundary then follows the western edge of the Santa Ana 
River in a generally southwesterly direction until it meets the San 
Bernardino--Riverside County line;
    (11) The boundary follows the county line west, crossing onto the 
Guasti, Calif., U.S.G.S. map, until it reaches the unnamed channel 
between Etiwanda and Mulberry Avenues (identified by the petitioner as 
Etiwanda Creek Channel);
    (12) The boundary then follows Etiwanda Creek Channel in a 
southerly direction until it parallels Bain Street;
    (13) The boundary then diverges from Etiwanda Creek Channel and 
follows Bain Street south until it ends at [[Page 16579]] Limonite 
Avenue in the northeast corner of the Corona North, Calif., U.S.G.S. 
map;
    (14) The boundary then continues south in a straight line until it 
reaches the northern shore of the Santa Ana River;
    (15) The boundary then follows the north shore of the Santa Ana 
River until it intersects the 560 foot contour line in Section 1 T3S/
R7W;
    (16) The boundary then follows the 560' contour line to the north 
of the Santa Ana River in a generally westerly direction until it 
reaches Euclid Avenue on the Prado Dam, Calif., U.S.G.S. map;
    (17) The boundary then follows Euclid Avenue north to the point of 
beginning.

    Signed: March 1, 1995.
Daniel R. Black,
Acting Director.

    Approved: March 9, 1995.
Dennis M. O'Connell,
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, (Regulatory, Tariff and Trade 
Enforcement).
[FR Doc. 95-7893 Filed 3-30-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-31-U