Careful with your AVAs

[tomstevenson]

No, I think I must have worded it badly because I understood the dig you were making and was supporting you, in part at least.

I'm a dedicated "terroirist", but where do you begin or stop?

In theory you any rationally-based appellation would end up like the French system, which consists of a general boundary inside which a lacework of approved AOC land exists. Ideally an unclassified site next to a classified site is unclassified because it is unsuitable (usually due to soil). However many unclassified sites with an AOC boundary consist of entire villages whose mayor did not apply for classification. On the other hand, many areas of unsuitable land have been classified because the owner petitioned the authorities stating that as the neighbouring field has been classified, so should his (which if carried to its logical conclusion would end up with a single-vineyard AOC called France).

Even if you applied a rational-based system in the strictest way, that should not prevent a winery from selling wines under a much wider-ranging origin. All that should be required by law (federal in your case) is that any claim is truthful, which is why it doesn't matter that only some AVAs adhere to its original concept.