[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 96 (Thursday, May 19, 2005)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 28870-28873]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-10007]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau

27 CFR Part 9

RIN 1513-AA55
[Notice No. 44]


Proposed Expansion of San Francisco Bay and Central Coast 
Viticultural Areas (2002R-202P)

AGENCY: Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, Treasury.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.

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SUMMARY: The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau proposes to amend 
its regulations to expand by approximately 20,000 acres the San 
Francisco Bay viticultural area and the Central Coast viticultural area 
in California to match the proposed boundary of an expanded Livermore 
Valley viticultural area. We designate viticultural areas to allow 
bottlers to better describe the origin of wines and allow consumers to 
better identify the wines they may purchase. We invite comments on this 
proposed amendment to our regulations.

DATES: We must receive written comments on or before July 18, 2005.

ADDRESSES: You may send comments to any of the following addresses:
     Chief, Regulations and Procedures Division, Alcohol and 
Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, Attn: Notice No. 44, P.O. Box 14412, 
Washington, DC 20044-4412.
     202-927-8525 (facsimile).
     [email protected] (e-mail).
     http://www.ttb.gov/alcohol/rules/index.htm. An online 
comment form is posted with this notice on our Web site.
     http://www.regulations.gov (Federal e-rulemaking portal; 
follow instructions for submitting comments).
    You may view copies of this notice, the petition, the appropriate 
maps, and any comments we receive about this notice by appointment at 
the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau Library, 1310 G Street, 
NW., Washington, DC 20220. To make an appointment, call 202-927-2400. 
You may also access copies of the notice and comments online at http://www.ttb.gov/alcohol/rules/index.htm.
    See the Public Participation section of this notice for specific 
instructions and requirements for submitting comments, and for 
information on how to request a public hearing.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: N.A. Sutton, Regulations and 
Procedures Division, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, 925 
Lakeville St., No. 158, Petaluma, California 94952; telephone 415-271-
1254.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background on Viticultural Areas

TTB Authority

    Section 105(e) of the Federal Alcohol Administration Act (the FAA 
Act, 27 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) requires that alcohol beverage labels 
provide the consumer with adequate information regarding a product's 
identity and prohibits the use of misleading information on such 
labels. The FAA Act also authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to 
issue regulations to carry out its provisions. The Alcohol and Tobacco 
Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) administers these regulations.
    Part 4 of the TTB regulations (27 CFR part 4) allows the 
establishment of definitive viticultural areas and the use of their 
names as appellations of origin on wine labels and in wine 
advertisements. Part 9 of the TTB regulations (27 CFR part 9) contains 
the list of approved viticultural areas.

Definition

    Section 4.25(e)(1)(i) of the TTB regulations (27 CFR 4.25(e)(1)(i)) 
defines a viticultural area for American wine as a delimited grape-
growing region distinguishable by geographical features, the boundaries 
of which have been recognized and defined in part 9 of the regulations. 
These designations allow vintners and consumers to attribute a given 
quality, reputation, or other characteristic of a wine made from grapes 
grown in an area to its geographic origin. The establishment of 
viticultural areas allows vintners to describe more accurately the 
origin of their wines to consumers and helps consumers to identify 
wines they may purchase. Establishment of a viticultural area is 
neither an approval nor an endorsement by TTB of the wine produced in 
that area.

Requirements

    Section 4.25(e)(2) of the TTB regulations outlines the procedure 
for proposing an American viticultural area and provides that any 
interested party may petition TTB to establish a grape-growing region 
as a viticultural area. Petitioners may use the same procedure to 
request changes involving existing viticultural areas. Section 9.3(b) 
of the TTB regulations requires the petition to include--
     Evidence that the proposed viticultural area is locally 
and/or nationally known by the name specified in the petition;
     Historical or current evidence that supports setting the 
boundary of the proposed viticultural area as the petition specifies;
     Evidence relating to the geographical features, such as 
climate, soils, elevation, and physical features, that distinguish the 
proposed viticultural area from surrounding areas;
     A description of the specific boundary of the proposed 
viticultural area, based on features found on United States Geological 
Survey (USGS) maps; and
     A copy of the appropriate USGS map(s) with the proposed 
viticultural area's boundary prominently marked.

San Francisco Bay and Central Coast Expansion Petition

    TTB received a petition from the president of the Livermore Valley 
Winegrowers Association proposing to expand the existing San Francisco 
Bay viticultural area (27 CFR 9.157) and the existing Central Coast 
viticultural area (27 CFR 9.75). The Association made this request in 
conjunction with, and as a consequence of, its proposed expansion of 
the Livermore Valley viticultural area (27 CFR 9.46), which is the 
subject of another document published in this issue of the Federal 
Register. The petitioner, Livermore Valley Winegrowers Association, 
represents most of the vineyards and wineries impacted by this 
expansion.
    The Livermore Valley viticultural area is entirely within the San 
Francisco Bay viticultural area, which is, in turn, entirely within the 
Central Coast viticultural area. To retain this configuration, the 
proposed Livermore Valley expansion would require the minor expansions 
of the San Francisco Bay and Central Coast viticultural areas proposed 
in this document.
    Below, we summarize the evidence presented in the petition to 
justify the expansion of the San Francisco Bay and Central Coast 
viticultural areas.

Rationale for the Proposed Expansion

    As the petitioner notes, in the years since the Bureau of Alcohol, 
Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), TTB's predecessor agency, established the 
current Livermore Valley viticultural area in 1982, ATF also 
established both the Central Coast and San Francisco Bay viticultural 
areas. Both of these

[[Page 28871]]

viticultural areas currently encompass the Livermore Valley 
viticultural area in its entirety and incorporate some of the Livermore 
Valley area's eastern boundary line as their own boundaries. (See: 
Livermore Valley Viticultural Area, Treasury Decision (T.D.) ATF-112, 
47 FR 38520, Sept. 1, 1982; Central Coast Viticultural Area, T.D. ATF-
216, 50 FR 43130, Oct. 24, 1985, as amended by T.D. ATF-407 64 FR 3023, 
Jan. 20, 1999; and San Francisco Bay Viticultural Area, T.D. ATF-407, 
64 FR 3015, Jan. 20, 1999.)
    When ATF established the San Francisco Bay viticultural area and 
amended the Central Coast viticultural area in 1999, no changes were 
made to the established boundary line of the Livermore Valley 
viticultural area. As a result, the Central Coast viticultural area and 
the San Francisco Bay viticultural area currently share a common 
boundary line in Alameda County, while the Livermore Valley 
viticultural area does not--to the detriment of all three viticultural 
areas, according to the petitioner.
    Currently, the central portion of the Livermore Valley viticultural 
area's eastern boundary line sits to the west of the current San 
Francisco Bay and Central Coast viticultural areas' eastern boundary 
line. This portion of the Livermore Valley boundary line is west of the 
Diablo Range foothills, as noted on the USGS Altamont, Byron Hot 
Springs, and Mendenhall Springs Quadrangle maps. The common eastern 
boundary line of the San Francisco Bay and Central Coast viticultural 
areas is further east, along the western foothills and mountains of the 
Diablo Range, as defined on the USGS Midway and Cedar Mtn. Quadrangle 
maps. The preamble to T.D. ATF-407, explains that the mountain 
elevations block the Pacific Ocean's marine air from continuing 
eastward and inland. Also, the other side of the Diablo Range, to the 
east of the Livermore Valley, has higher temperatures, lower humidity, 
and decreased rainfall, typical of a continental climate.
    The concurrent petition to expand the Livermore Valley viticultural 
area, the petitioner states, provides an opportunity to align the 
boundaries of all three viticultural areas--Livermore Valley, San 
Francisco Bay, and Central Coast--into one common boundary line in this 
region. According to the petitioner, the proposed expansion of the San 
Francisco Bay and Central Coast viticultural areas would result in 
eastern boundaries for these two areas that would coincide with the 
Livermore Valley viticultural area. The petitioner argues that this 
expansion remains consistent with the essential elements currently 
recognized by TTB, such as name, regional identity, and distinguishing 
geographical features. Moreover, the petitioner states, this expansion 
would serve consumers by providing clear, unambiguous boundaries that 
would aid, rather than complicate, their wine buying decisions.

Name and Boundary Evidence

    T.D. ATF-407, 64 FR 3018, which established the San Francisco Bay 
viticultural area and expanded the Central Coast viticultural area to 
the north, details evidence for name recognition and regional identity 
for the San Francisco Bay viticultural area and the Central Coast 
viticultural area. It explains that the counties of San Francisco, 
Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Clara, and San Mateo all border the San 
Francisco Bay body of water and are consistently considered to be part 
of the San Francisco Bay region. All, or portions of, the five counties 
listed above are within the established San Francisco Bay and Central 
Coast viticultural areas boundary lines.
    To support the expansion of the Central Coast viticultural area 
boundaries, the petitioner cites T.D. ATF-407, which maintains that the 
general marine climate extends north and northwest beyond the 
originally established Central Coast viticultural area boundaries. 
Also, the name recognition of Central Coast, as used by wine writers 
and in the California State legislature, extends north and west into 
the five counties surrounding the San Francisco Bay body of water. 
Thus, the petitioner contends that because the names of both the San 
Francisco Bay and Central Coast viticultural areas are unaffected by 
the proposed boundary expansion, the evidence cited in the T.D. ATF-407 
remains accurate.
    The proposed alignment of the San Francisco Bay and Central Coast 
boundaries with the expanded Livermore Valley boundary is limited to 
Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. These counties encompass the Central 
Coast's northeastern region and the San Francisco Bay's eastern region, 
as noted on the USGS maps and by the written boundary descriptions. 
While the aligned boundaries for both the San Francisco Bay and Central 
Coast viticultural areas would expand eastward, it would be in a 
limited manner, and the boundaries remain true to the 1999 T.D. ATF-407 
regional definitions for both viticultural areas, according to the 
petitioner.
    In sum, the name recognition for the affected portions of Alameda 
and Contra Costa Counties continue as the San Francisco Bay area and 
the larger Central Coast area, as documented in T.D. ATF-407. Also, the 
distinguishing boundary and climatic characteristics, as described in 
T.D. ATF-407, including the cooling marine influences from the Pacific 
Ocean and San Francisco Bay and the natural boundary of the Diablo 
Range apply equally to the proposed expansion area.

Boundary Description

    See the changes to the narrative boundary descriptions for the 
petitioned-for viticultural area expansions in the proposed regulatory 
text amendments published at the end of this notice.

Maps

    The petitioner provided the required maps for the expansions, and 
we list them below in the proposed regulatory text amendments.

Impact on Current Wine Labels

    The proposed expansion of the San Francisco Bay and Central Coast 
viticultural areas will not affect currently approved wine labels. The 
approval of this proposed expansion may allow additional vintners to 
use ``San Francisco Bay'' and ``Central Coast'' as an appellation of 
origin on their wine labels. Part 4 of the TTB regulations prohibits 
any label reference on a wine that indicates or implies an origin other 
than the wine's true place of origin. For a wine to be eligible to use 
as an appellation of origin the name of a viticultural area specified 
in part 9 of the TTB regulations, at least 85 percent of the grapes 
used to make the wine must have been grown within the area represented 
by that name, and the wine must meet the other conditions listed in 27 
CFR 4.25(e)(3). Different rules apply if a wine has a brand name 
containing a viticultural area name that was used as a brand name on a 
label approved before July 7, 1986. See 27 CFR 4.39(i)(2) for details.

Public Participation

Comments Invited

    We invite comments from interested members of the public on whether 
we should expand the San Francisco Bay and Central Coast viticultural 
areas as described above. We are especially interested in comments 
concerning the similarity of the proposed expansion area to the 
currently existing San Francisco Bay and Central Coast viticultural 
areas. Please support your comments with specific information about the 
proposed expansion area's name, proposed boundaries, or distinguishing 
features.

[[Page 28872]]

Submitting Comments

    Please submit your comments by the closing date shown above in this 
notice. Your comments must include this notice number and your name and 
mailing address. Your comments must be legible and written in language 
acceptable for public disclosure. We do not acknowledge receipt of 
comments, and we consider all comments as originals. You may submit 
comments in one of five ways:
     Mail: You may send written comments to TTB at the address 
listed in the ADDRESSES section.
     Facsimile: You may submit comments by facsimile 
transmission to 202-927-8525. Faxed comments must--
    (1) Be on 8.5- by 11-inch paper;
    (2) Contain a legible, written signature; and
    (3) Be no more than five pages long. This limitation assures 
electronic access to our equipment. We will not accept faxed comments 
that exceed five pages.
     E-mail: You may e-mail comments to [email protected]. Comments 
transmitted by electronic mail must--
    (1) Contain your e-mail address;
    (2) Reference this notice number on the subject line; and
    (3) Be legible when printed on 8.5- by 11-inch paper.
     Online form: We provide a comment form with the online 
copy of this notice on our Web site at http://www.ttb.gov/alcohol/rules/index.htm. Select the ``Send comments via e-mail'' link under 
this notice number.
     Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: To submit comments to us via 
the Federal e-rulemaking portal, visit http://www.regulations.gov and 
follow the instructions for submitting comments.
    You may also write to the Administrator before the comment closing 
date to ask for a public hearing. The Administrator reserves the right 
to determine, in light of all circumstances, whether to hold a public 
hearing.

Confidentiality

    All submitted material is part of the public record and subject to 
disclosure. Do not enclose any material in your comments that you 
consider confidential or inappropriate for public disclosure.

Public Disclosure

    You may view copies of this notice, the petition, the appropriate 
maps, and any comments we receive by appointment at the TTB Library at 
1310 G Street, NW., Washington, DC 20220. You may also obtain copies at 
20 cents per 8.5- x 11-inch page. Contact our librarian at the above 
address or telephone 202-927-2400 to schedule an appointment or to 
request copies of comments.
    For your convenience, we will post this notice and comments we 
receive on the TTB Web site. We may omit voluminous attachments or 
material that we consider unsuitable for posting. In all cases, the 
full comment will be available in the TTB Library. To access the online 
copy of this notice and the submitted comments, visit http://www.ttb.gov/alcohol/rules/index.htm. Select the ``View Comments'' link 
under this notice number to view the posted comments.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

    We certify that this proposed regulation, if adopted, would not 
have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small 
entities. The proposed regulation imposes no new reporting, 
recordkeeping, or other administrative requirement. Any benefit derived 
from the use of a viticultural area name would be the result of a 
proprietor's efforts and consumer acceptance of wines from that area. 
Therefore, no regulatory flexibility analysis is required.

Executive Order 12866

    This proposed rule is not a significant regulatory action as 
defined by Executive Order 12866, 58 FR 51735. Therefore, it requires 
no regulatory assessment.

Drafting Information

    N.A. Sutton of the Regulations and Procedures Division drafted this 
notice.

List of Subjects in 27 CFR Part 9

    Wine.

Proposed Regulatory Amendment

    For the reasons discussed in the preamble, we propose to amend 27 
CFR, chapter 1, part 9, Code of Federal Regulations, as follows:

PART 9--AMERICAN VITICULTURAL AREAS

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

    Authority: 27 U.S.C. 205.

Subpart C--Approved American Viticultural Areas

    2. Section 9.75 is amended by revising the introductory text of 
paragraph (b), removing the word ``and'' at the end of paragraph 
(b)(40), replacing the period with a semicolon at the end of paragraph 
(b)(41), and by adding new paragraphs (b)(42) and (b)(43) and revising 
paragraphs (c)(10) through (c)(16) to read as follows:


Sec.  9.75  Central Coast.

* * * * *
    (b) Approved maps. The approved maps for determining the boundary 
of the Central Coast viticultural area are the following 43 USGS 
topographic maps:
* * * * *
    (42) Midway, California, scale 1:24,000, dated 1953, Photorevised 
1980; and
    (43) Cedar Mtn., California, scale 1:24,000, dated 1956, 
Photorevised 1971; Minor Revision 1994.
    (c) * * *
* * * * *
    (10) Then proceed southeast in a straight line approximately 1.8 
miles to BM 720 in section 21. (Altamont Quadrangle)
    (11) Then proceed south-southeast approximately 1 mile to an 
unnamed 1,147-foot peak in section 28. (Altamont Quadrangle)
    (12) Then proceed south-southwest in a straight line approximately 
1.1 miles to the intersection of the eastern boundary of section 32 
with Highway 580. (Altamont Quadrangle)
    (13) Then proceed south-southeast in a straight line approximately 
2.7 miles to BM 1602 in Patterson Pass in section 10, Township 3 South, 
Range 3 East. (Altamont Quadrangle)
    (14) Then proceed south-southeast in a straight line approximately 
2.8 miles to BM 1600, adjacent to Tesla Road in section 26. (Midway 
Quadrangle)
    (15) Then proceed south in a straight line approximately 4.2 miles 
to BM 1878, 40 feet north of Mines Road, in section 14, Township 4 
South, Range 3 East. (Cedar Mtn. Quadrangle)
    (16) Then proceed west-southwest in a straight line approximately 
4.2 miles to the southeast corner of section 19. (Mendenhall Springs 
Quadrangle)
* * * * *
    3. Section 9.157 is amended by revising the introductory text of 
paragraph (b), removing the word ``and'' at the end of paragraph 
(b)(41), replacing the period with a semicolon followed by the word 
``and'' at the end of paragraph (b)(42), and by adding a new paragraph 
(b)(43) and revising paragraphs (c)(13) through (c)(18) to read as 
follows:


Sec.  9.157  San Francisco Bay.

* * * * *
    (b) Approved Maps. The appropriate maps for determining the 
boundary of the San Francisco Bay viticultural area

[[Page 28873]]

are 43 1:24,000 Scale USGS topographic maps. They are titled:
* * * * *
    (43) Cedar Mtn., California, scale 1:24,000, dated 1956, 
Photorevised 1971; Minor Revision 1994.
    (c) * * *
* * * * *
    (13) Then proceed northeast in a straight line approximately 3.2 
miles to BM 1878 in section 14 on the Cedar Mtn. Quadrangle.
    (14) Then proceed north in a straight line approximately 4.2 miles 
to BM 1600 adjacent to Tesla Road in section 26, Township 3 South, 
Range 3 East on the Midway Quadrangle.
    (15) Then proceed north-northwest in a straight line approximately 
2.8 miles to Patterson Pass, BM 1602, in section 10 on the Altamont 
Quadrangle.
    (16) Then proceed north-northwest in a straight line approximately 
2.7 miles to the intersection of the eastern boundary of section 32 
with Highway 580 in Township 2 South, Range 3 East.
    (17) Then proceed north-northeast in a straight line approximately 
1.1 miles to an unnamed peak, elevation 1147, in section 28.
    (18) Then proceed north-northwest in a straight line approximately 
1 mile to BM 720 in section 21 and proceed northwest in a straight line 
approximately 1.8 miles to the northeast corner of section 18 on the 
Byron Hot Springs Quadrangle.
* * * * *

    Signed: April 26, 2005.
John J. Manfreda,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 05-10007 Filed 5-18-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-31-P