[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 48 (Tuesday, March 11, 2008)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 12875-12878]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-4789]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau

27 CFR Part 9

[T.D. TTB-65; Re: Notice No. 61]
RIN 1513-AB23


Expansion of the Alexander Valley Viticultural Area (2005R-501P)

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

ACTION: Final rule; Treasury decision.

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SUMMARY: This Treasury decision expands the Alexander Valley 
viticultural area in Sonoma County, California, by 1,300 acres along 
its northwestern boundary line. We designate viticultural areas to 
allow vintners to better describe the origin of their wines and to 
allow consumers to better identify wines they may purchase.

DATES: Effective Date: April 10, 2008.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background on Viticultural Areas

TTB Authority

    Section 105(e) of the Federal Alcohol Administration Act (FAA Act), 
27 U.S.C. 205(e), authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe 
regulations for the labeling of wine, distilled spirits, and malt 
beverages. The FAA Act provides that these regulations should, among 
other things, prohibit consumer deception and the use of misleading 
statements on labels, and ensure that labels provide the consumer with 
adequate information as to the identity and quality of the product. The 
Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) administers the 
regulations promulgated under the FAA Act.
    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 geographical 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, elevation, physical features, and soils, 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.

Alexander Valley Viticultural Area Expansion Petition

Background

    Patrick Shabram of Shabram, Inc., with the support of vineyard 
owner Anthony Martorana, proposes a 1,300-acre expansion of the 
Alexander Valley viticultural area (27 CFR 9.53) along the current 
diagonal northwestern boundary line. The expansion would result in a 
viticultural area of 67,710 acres.
    The proposed expansion area starts 1 mile south-southwest of 
Cloverdale and continues south for another 2 miles, according to the 
USGS Cloverdale Quadrangle map and written boundary description 
submitted by the petitioner. The shape of the proposed expansion area 
resembles a triangle with one side running along the Alexander Valley 
viticultural area's existing diagonal northwestern boundary line.
    According to the petitioner, Seven Arches Vineyards straddles that 
diagonal northwestern boundary line, with about 10 acres outside of the 
existing Alexander Valley viticultural area. The proposed expansion 
area, the petitioner continues, would incorporate into the Alexander 
Valley viticultural area all of Seven Arches Vineyards and the entire 
20 acres of Icaria Vineyards, both of which are located along Hiatt 
Road and Icaria Creek. Another vineyard, Jeke Vineyards, lies 
immediately inside the existing boundary line, according to a petition 
map outlining the vineyards of the area. The table below explains the 
relationship of these three vineyards to

[[Page 12876]]

the existing diagonal northwestern boundary line of the Alexander 
Valley viticultural area.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vineyard name (Icaria Creek and Hiatt Road
                  areas)                          Vineyard location
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeke Vineyards............................  \1/10\ mile inside of the
                                             boundary line.
Seven Arches Vineyards....................  Straddles the boundary line.
Icaria Vineyards..........................  \4/10\ mile outside of the
                                             boundary line.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Shortly after the establishment of the original viticultural area, 
the petitioner states, some wine industry members erroneously believed 
that the proposed expansion area already lay inside the Alexander 
Valley viticultural area boundary. As an example, the petitioner states 
that Jade Mountain Vineyards labeled a 1985 Icaria Vineyards wine with 
the Alexander Valley viticultural area name, while a map submitted with 
the petition shows Icaria Vineyards as lying within the proposed 
expansion area.
    We summarize below the evidence presented in the petition in 
support of the proposed expansion of the Alexander Valley viticultural 
area.

Name Evidence

    The proposed expansion area is historically identified with 
Cloverdale, a town located at the northern end of the Alexander Valley 
viticultural area. In his ``History of the Sonoma Viticultural 
District,'' Nomis Press, 1998, pages 186-187, Ernest P. Peninou notes 
that in 1890 Parker Vineyards was established in the proposed expansion 
area. The author identifies Parker Vineyards as a part of the 
viticultural history of Cloverdale. The petitioner explains that 
vineyards in the Cloverdale area, except for the two vineyards in the 
proposed expansion area, lie within the boundaries of the currently 
established Alexander Valley viticultural area.
    An article entitled ``The Early Wineries of the Cloverdale Area,'' 
by William A. Cordtz, PhD, which ran in the March/April 1985 edition of 
Wine West, states that grape growing started in Cloverdale before it 
began in other areas of the Alexander Valley. It explains that 
viticulture in the upper Alexander Valley centered around Cloverdale, 
flourishing between 1880 and Prohibition. Also, the Cloverdale 
Reveille, a local area newspaper, ran articles about grape growing, and 
in 1878 reported prices of local grapes at $8 per ton.

Boundary Evidence

    On October 24, 1984, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms 
(ATF), our predecessor agency, published T.D. ATF-187 (49 FR 42724), 
the final rule establishing the Alexander Valley viticultural area. 
Several groups of petitioners had proposed differing boundaries for 
that viticultural area. Ultimately, in the final rule ATF established 
the boundary of the Alexander Valley viticultural area as encompassing 
an area from southeast of Healdsburg to north of Cloverdale in Sonoma 
County.
    Since the establishment of the Alexander Valley viticultural area, 
ATF has published four other final rules, all revising the boundaries 
of the viticultural area. In T.D. ATF-233 (51 FR 30354, August 26, 
1986), ATF expanded the southern boundary of the viticultural area to 
include an area known as Digger Bend, and extended the northeastern 
corner boundary to include newly planted vineyards. In T.D. ATF-272 (53 
FR 17022, May 13, 1988), ATF adjusted the shared border of the Chalk 
Hill and Alexander Valley viticultural areas, and expanded the 
southeastern corner of the Alexander Valley viticultural area to 
include vineyards previously located immediately within the Chalk Hill 
viticultural area. In T.D. ATF-300 (55 FR 32402, August 9, 1990), ATF 
amended the eastern and northeastern boundary of the Alexander Valley 
viticultural area to encompass a nearby mountainous area. In T.D. ATF-
486 (66 FR 50564, October 4, 2001), ATF realigned a small portion of 
the western boundary of the Alexander Valley viticultural area along 
the border shared with the Dry Creek viticultural area to encompass the 
Gill Creek watershed. However, not one of those revisions is related to 
the boundary of the expansion in this final rule.
    The current Alexander Valley viticultural area's western boundary 
line trends northwest-southeast, connecting section 24, T. 11 N., R. 11 
W. to a point on the map at 38[deg]45[min] latitude and 123[deg]00[min] 
longitude in section 5, T. 10 N., R. 10 W., on the USGS Cloverdale 
Quadrangle map. The expansion area would incorporate into the current 
viticultural area a triangular-shaped area west of its western boundary 
line.
    The petitioner provided a map of the Alexander Valley viticultural 
area published by the Sonoma County Grape Growers Association in 1998. 
The map shows the current viticultural area boundaries and displays the 
vineyards within the proposed expansion area with the same shade of 
dark green used for the vineyards within the current viticultural area 
boundary. In contrast, the vineyards outside the existing boundary 
carry a significantly lighter shade of green. The petitioner contends 
that the wine industry used the map as a geographic analytical tool to 
group all vineyards on the floor and the lower slopes of the Alexander 
Valley.

Distinguishing Features

    The petitioner provides geographic data and other evidence to 
document that the proposed expansion area is similar in topography, 
elevation, soils, and climate to the northwestern region of the 
Alexander Valley viticultural area along Hiatt Road and Icaria Creek.
    The petitioner explains that the existing Alexander Valley 
viticultural area and the proposed expansion area, located on opposite 
sides of the diagonal boundary line, have similar distinguishing 
features. The topography, including range in elevation and the flood 
plains along Icaria Creek, water resources, soils, and climate combine 
to create a similar viticultural environment on both sides of the 
diagonal boundary line, according to the petitioner.
Topography
    The petitioner describes the similar topographic features scattered 
throughout the Icaria Creek area on both sides of the existing 
Alexander Valley viticultural area's diagonal northwestern boundary 
line. The proposed expansion area is at elevations of 360 feet on the 
flood plain along Icaria Creek to 874 feet, according to the USGS 
Cloverdale Quadrangle map. The topography is similar immediately east 
and inside the Alexander Valley viticultural area's diagonal boundary 
line. Elevations there, as noted on the USGS Cloverdale Quadrangle map, 
range from a low of 320 feet on the flood plain along Icaria Creek to a 
high of 884 feet.
    The petitioner explains that the terrain west of the proposed 
expansion area becomes increasingly steep and mountainous and that 
elevations climb to 1,600 feet, as shown on the USGS Cloverdale 
Quadrangle map. The mountainous terrain contrasts with the lower 
elevations and the gentle valley landscape of the Alexander Valley 
region shown on the map. The petitioner adds that the westerly 
mountainous terrain creates an unsuitable environment for viticulture.
    Icaria Creek and several of its tributaries, as part of the 
Alexander Valley watershed, run through the proposed expansion area and 
drain into the Russian River. In an interview in the Healdsburg Tribune 
of December 7, 1979, Robert Young observed that there

[[Page 12877]]

is only one watershed in the entire Alexander Valley. His observation, 
according to the petitioner, supports the expansion petition because 
the expansion area also falls within that watershed.
    The vineyards in the proposed expansion area generally lie on the 
lower, flatter terrain of the flood plain along Icaria Creek, according 
to the diagrams on the map in the petition. The elevations generally 
range between 350 and 450 feet, but the southernmost part of the Seven 
Arches Vineyards reaches 590 feet. Jeke Vineyards, which is within the 
Alexander Valley viticultural area's western boundary line, lies 
between 350 and 380 feet of elevation on the flood plain along Icaria 
Creek, the petitioner states. Thus, Jeke Vineyards, which is 
immediately inside the east side of the diagonal boundary line, and the 
Icaria and Seven Arches Vineyards, which are in the proposed expansion 
area on the west side of the diagonal boundary line, do not vary 
substantially in their overall elevations and relative locations on the 
flood plain.
Soils
    The petitioner explains that the distinguishing soils in the Icaria 
Creek and Hiatt Road areas in the proposed expansion area include the 
Hugo-Josephine-Laughlin association. According to the Soil Survey of 
Sonoma County, California, issued in 1972 by the United States 
Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, the soils in this 
association are well drained, gently sloping to very steep gravelly 
loam. This soil association, according to the petitioner, is common on 
the western slopes of the Alexander Valley, including much of the 
existing viticultural area. The predominant soil associations in the 
Alexander Valley viticultural area, the petitioner continues, are the 
Yolo-Cortina-Pleasanton, Goulding-Toomes-Guenoc, and Hugo-Josephine-
Laughlin associations, which are also in the proposed expansion area.
Climate
    The petitioner states that the climate of the proposed expansion 
area closely reflects that of the area to its immediate east and inside 
the viticultural area boundary line. Both areas, the petitioner states, 
are similar in vegetative cover, elevation, topographic features, and 
latitudinal coordinates.
    The entire Alexander Valley viticultural area has a coastal warm 
climate type, according to the model Climate Types of Sonoma County, 
originally developed by Robert Sisson, shown on the 1986 Vossen map, 
and provided with the petition. This model uses the total daily hours 
of temperatures between 70 and 90 degrees F. The petitioner explains 
that the temperature range is the most significant factor for 
photosynthesis in the grapevines.
    Climatic variations have not been recorded along Icaria Creek and 
Hiatt Road between the existing Alexander Valley viticultural area and 
the proposed expansion area. However, the manager of the Seven Arches 
Vineyards writes that along Hiatt Road, on both sides of the diagonal 
boundary line of the existing Alexander Valley viticultural area, the 
climate is similar, if not identical. The petitioner explains that the 
reason for the similar or identical climate in both the existing and 
proposed expansion areas is that the coastal, or marine, influence is 
diminished in the inland, northern part of Sonoma County, including the 
northern part of the Alexander Valley.

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Comments Received

    TTB published Notice No. 61 regarding the proposed expansion of the 
Alexander Valley viticultural area in the Federal Register on July 17, 
2006 (71 FR 40465). We received three comments in response to that 
notice. All three comments, including one from the Alexander Valley 
Winegrowers, support the proposed expansion of the Alexander Valley 
viticultural area.

TTB Finding

    After careful review of the petition, TTB finds that the evidence 
submitted supports the expansion of the Alexander Valley viticultural 
area as requested in the petition. Therefore, under the authority of 
the FAA Act and part 4 of our regulations, we amend our regulations to 
expand the Alexander Valley viticultural area, in Sonoma County, 
California, effective 30 days from the publication date of this 
document.

Boundary Description

    See the narrative boundary description of the expanded viticultural 
area in the regulatory text published at the end of this document.

Maps

    The petitioner(s) provided the required maps, and we list them 
below in the regulatory text.

Impact on Current Wine Labels

    The expansion of the Alexander Valley viticultural area does not 
affect any currently approved wine labels. The approval of this 
expansion may allow additional vintners to use ``Alexander Valley'' 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 labeled with a viticultural area name or with a brand name 
that includes a viticultural area name or other term identified as 
viticulturally significant in part 9 of the TTB regulations, at least 
85 percent of the wine must be derived from grapes grown within the 
area represented by that name or other term, 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 or other 
viticulturally significant term that was used as a brand name on a 
label approved before July 7, 1986. See 27 CFR 4.39(i)(2) for details.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

    We certify that this regulation will not have a significant 
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. This 
regulation imposes no new reporting, recordkeeping, or other 
administrative requirement. Any benefit derived from the use of a 
viticultural area name is 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 rule is not a significant regulatory action as defined by 
Executive Order 12866, 58 FR 51735. Therefore, it requires no 
regulatory assessment.

Drafting Information

    Nancy Sutton of the Regulations and Rulings Division drafted this 
ruling.

List of Subjects in 27 CFR Part 9

    Wine.

The Regulatory Amendment

0
For the reasons discussed in the preamble, we amend 27 CFR, chapter I, 
part 9, as follows:

PART 9--AMERICAN VITICULTURAL AREAS

0
1. The authority citation for part 9 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 27 U.S.C. 205.

Subpart C--Approved American Viticultural Areas

0
2. Section 9.53 is amended by revising the heading of paragraph (c), 
revising paragraph (c)(5), redesignating

[[Page 12878]]

paragraphs (c)(6) through (c)(44) as (c)(9) through (c)(47), and adding 
new paragraphs (c)(6) through (c)(8) to read as follows:

Subpart C--Approved American Viticultural Areas


Sec.  9. 53  Alexander Valley.

* * * * *
    (c) Boundary.
* * * * *
    (5) Then straight south along the eastern boundary line of Section 
25, to its intersection with Kelly Road, a medium-duty road, T. 11 N., 
R. 11 W.;
    (6) Then southwest along Kelly Road to its intersection with the 
northern boundary line of Section 36, T. 11 N., R. 11 W.;
    (7) Then straight south to its intersection with 38[deg] 45' N. 
latitude along the southern border of the Cloverdale Quadrangle map, T. 
10 N., R. 11 W. and R. 10 W.;
    (8) Then straight east to its intersection with 123[deg] 00' E. 
longitude at the southeastern corner of the Cloverdale Quadrangle map, 
T. 10 N., R. 10 W.;
* * * * *

    Signed: March 1, 2007.
John J. Manfreda,
Administrator.
    Approved: November 16, 2007.
Timothy E. Skud,
Deputy Assistant Secretary (Tax, Trade, and Tariff Policy).
[FR Doc. E8-4789 Filed 3-10-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-31-P