Careful with your AVAs

[tomstevenson]

By your own definition, Foodie, the AVAs do not constitute an appellation system, but your definition is not the only one, and the Australians wouldn't even bother debating the point. You have a right to your own opinion, of course, but there is no god-given "is" about any of it. However, you are most certainly wrong to say that anything other than the sort of appellation system you describe is just a marketing system. Might be, perhaps, but not necessarily. Furthermore, the French AOC, which certainly conforms to your notion of an appellation system, was conceived not for the benefit of consumers, but to protect producers, and if that is not a marketing system, I don't know what is.

This is turning into more of a semantics debate!