USA Flashcards
Sonoma county AVAs.
Los Carneros (Carneros) Sonoma Valley Sonoma Mountain Bennett Valley Moon Mountain District Sonoma County (est. 2013) Sonoma Coast Northern Sonoma Russian River Valley Green Valley of Russian River Valley Chalk Hill Dry Creek Valley Rockpile Alexander Valley Knights Valley Pine Mountain-Cloverdale Peak (est. 2011) Fort Ross-Seaview (est. 2011)
Mendocino county AVAs.
Mendocino Mendocino Ridge Anderson Valley Potter Valley Redwood Valley McDowell Valley Yorkville Highlands Dos Rios Cole Ranch Covelo Pine Mountain-Cloverdale Peak (est. 2011)
Napa county AVAs.
Coombsville (est. 2011) Calistoga Diamond Mountain District Spring Mountain District St. Helena Rutherford Oakville Stags Leap District Mount Veeder Yountville Los Carneros (Carneros) Wild Horse Valley Oak Knoll District of Napa Valley Atlas Peak Chiles Valley Howell Mountain
Monterey county AVAs.
Monterey Santa Lucia Highlands Chalone Hames Valley Arroyo Seco Carmel Valley San Antonio Valley San Bernabe San Lucas
Oregon AVAs.
Willamette Valley:
Chehalem Mountains
Ribbon Ridge
Yamhill-Carlton District
Dundee Hills
McMinnville
Eola-Amity Hills
Southern Oregon:
Red Hills Douglas County
Umpqua Valley
Elkton Oregon
Applegate Valley
Rogue Valley
Columbia Valley (shared with Washington):
Columbia Gorge (shared with Washington)
Walla Walla Valley (shared with Washington)
Snake River Valley (shared with Idaho)What are the AVAs of Columbia Valley in Washington?
Yakima Valley Rattlesnake Hills Red Mountain Snipes Mountain Naches Heights (est. 2011) Ancient Lakes of Columbia Valley (est. 2012) Walla Walla Valley (shared with Oregon) Horse Heaven Hills Lake Chelan Wahluke Slope
What state is Columbia Gorge in?
Washington and Oregon.
AVAs of San Luis Obispo county
Paso Robles
Arroyo Grande
York Mountain
Edna Valley
AVAs of Santa Barbara county
Santa Maria Valley Santa Ynez Valley Sta. Rita Hills Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara Ballard Canyon (est. 2013)
AVAs within the Lodi AVA of Central Valley
Mokelumne River Cosumnes River Jahant Borden Ranch Alta Mesa Sloughhouse Clements Hills
AVAs within Sierra Foothills AVA
California Shenandoah Valley El Dorado Fair Play Fiddletown North Yuba
Which infamous rootstock, supplied by UC Davis, was attacked by phylloxera in the 1980’s?
AXR-1 rootstock
75% of California wine comes from which region?
Central Valley
What area runs southward from Portland for 150 miles and is known for Pinot Noir?
Willamette Valley
What type of soil characterizes the Dundee Hills AVA (sub zone of Willamette Valley)?
Jory, a well-drained volcanic topsoil
Willakenzie, a fine loam, ash-covered soil, dominates which Willamette Valley AVA?
Ribbon Ridge
What was the first sub AVA named for Napa Valley?
Howell Mountain
What are the four large AVAs into which most of California’s fine wine production is divided?
North Coast, Central Coast, South Coast and Sierra Foothills.
The _____ Coast AVA has made little impact on the fine wines of California.
South.
What does AVA stand for?
American Viticultural Area
What agency originally oversaw the creation of the AVA system?
ATF- Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
What was the first AVA, created in 1980?
Augusta, in Missouri
When did Napa Valley gain AVA status?
1981
What agency, created by the Homeland Security Act of 2002, oversees the AVA system?
Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB),
If an American or imported wine in the US uses a vintage date, the wine must carry an appellation smaller than a country. True or False?
True
If a label lists an AVA, a ___________ of grapes used to produce the wine must have originated in the stated region.
Minimum of 85%
If a producer labels their wine by county, state or country, what percentage of grapes must be used from that area? Are there any exceptions?
75%
If labeled California and Oregon, must 100% state grown fruit.
If labeled Washington, must contain 95% state grown fruit.
Wines labeled by vineyard must contain at least __% fruit from that vineyard.
95
What are the requirements for a wine to be labeled “estate-bottled”?
100% of a wine must come from grapes grown on land owned or controlled by the winery. In addition, the winery and all vineyards used in the production of an estate-bottled wine must be located within the same AVA.
What are the percentages of grapes required for labeling by region?
If labeled by country, state, or county: 75%
If labeled by AVA: 85%
If labeled with a single vineyard: 95%
What percentage of fruit must come from the stated vintage if labeled with an AVA? What percentage if labeled by county or state?
95%
85%
Wine with a varietal designation must contain a minimum ____ of the stated varietal—______________ grapes, like Concord, are an exception, and need only comprise a minimum _____ of a varietal wine
75%. Vitis Labrusca. 51%.
What grape belongs to the Vitis Rotundifolia group?
Scuppernong.
What grapes belong to the Vitis Aestivalis group?
Norton.
What group do the Concord and Catawba grapes belong to?
Vitis Labrusca
What alcohol level must a wine have to be labeled, simply, table wine? No percentage needed on label.
7-14% abv
Law requires a government health warning, and the phrase “Contains Sulfites”, provided they are present in a concentration of __ parts per _______ or more.
10/million.
Cool ocean air funnels through the _______ Gap into the ___ ____ Bay and upward through the Napa Valley.
Petaluma. San Pablo.
The Napa Valley is formed by the _____________ to the west and the ___________ to the east.
Mayacamas Mtn and Vaca Mtn
What is Washington State’s Largest and what is it’s smallest AVAs?
Columbia Valley AVA, Red Mountain AVA
What does Meritage mean?
“Meritage”, a term trademarked by the Meritage Alliance, is used by producers to indicate a premium blend in which no grape accounts for more than 90% of the wine. Meritage wines may be red or white, but must be produced from Bordeaux varietals
What grape is Zinfandel linked to for descent?
Croatia’s Crljenak Kastelanski
What are the soils of the Napa Valley?
volcanic, alluvial and maritime soil types, ranging from well-drained gravel loam to dense clays to the thin, rocky soils of the hillside vineyards.
Which AVA for Napa represents a more supple style of Cabernet?
Rutherford AVA (valley floor style)
What are the soils of Sonoma?
Fertile alluvial soils, such as “Goldridge” sandy loam, characterize the valley.
What is the warmest AVA in Sonoma County?
Knights Valley
What two areas of Sonoma AVA are known for Zinfandel?
Dry Creek Valley and the small Rockpile AVA
In Sonoma, all wines produced in the county are required to state “Sonoma County” on the label, regardless of whether or not the label also indicates an AVA. True or False.
True. Since 2011.
What is the newest AVA in Sonoma County?
Moon Mountain District Sonoma County (est 2013)
Where are Mendocino’s best wine producing areas centered?
At the confluence of the Russian and Navarro rivers.
Which AVA in Mendocino boasts one of the coolest climates in California?
Anderson Valley
Which champagne houses set up operations in Carneros?
Gloria Ferrer, Cordoniu and Taittinger.
Which champagne house based their US operation in Anderson Valley?
Louis Roederer
Name the AVAs centered around San Francisco?
Livermore Valley, Santa Cruz Mountains, Ben Lomond Mountain, Santa Clara Valley, San Ysidro District, and the sprawling San Francisco Bay AVA itself
Wente- Livermore Valley.
What is the dominant grape of Monterey county?
Chardonnay- accounting for over 50% of plantings.
Are Santa Cruz county and Santa Cruz mountains located int the Central Coast AVA?
Santa Cruz county is but Santa Cruz mountains is not.
In the westside sub-appellation of Paso Robles, cooler marine air is funneled through the _________ ___, and more prevalent limestone and calcareous soils.
Templeton Gap.
What county contains Paso Robles AVA?
San Luis Obispo county.
Name a cool climate, coastal area of San Luis Obispo county?
Edna Valley. Appropriate for Chardonnay and Pinot noir.
What is the climate Santa Barbara County?
Region 1 maritime- boasts the longest growing season in California.
What is the world’s second largest wine producer? Where are they based out of?
Gallo. Modesto.
California’s Central Valley is home to over 65% of wine produced in the state. True or False.
False. 75%.
What is the largest and most important AVA in the Central Valley?
Lodi. Home to large, value oriented brands as well as boutique wineries, may of whom specialize in Old-Vine Zinfandel.
What is the river of Oregon’s Willamette Valley?
Columbia River.
Which wine help put the Willamette Valley on the map by receiving outstanding results in French competition?
Lett’s 1975 South Block Reserve Pinot Noir (Eyrie Winery)
Who was dubbed the “father of California wine” and what winery did he found?
Argostan Haraszthy. Buena Vista Winery.
What is the most common and effective group grape for grafting?
Vitis Riparia and hybrids.
Describe the Pinots of Oregon as compared to the Côte d’Or and California?
Lighter in style and earthier than California, riper and more forward than Burgundy. The mild, temperate, rainy climate of the valley invites further comparisons to the Burgundy, and vintages are more variable than in Sonoma or Santa Barbara.
What are the six sub AVAs of Willamette Valley?
Dundee Hills, Eola-Amity Hills, Ribbon Ridge, McMinnville, Yamhill-Carlton District, and Chehalem Mountains.
Soil structure in the Willamette Valley is due to what events coinciding with the end of the last ice age?
Missoula Floods. These cataclysmic floods erupted periodically over thousands of years as glacial dams melted and refroze, depositing a wealth of alluvial soils, known as Willamette Silt, over older volcanic and sedimentary bedrock.
Varietal wines from Oregon, with the exception of white and red Bordeaux varieties, major Rhône grapes, Zinfandel, Sangiovese, Tannat and Tempranillo, must contain a minimum __% of the stated varietal, rather than the standard 75%.
90%
Oregon also maintains stricter state laws for labeling by region: a wine labeled by an AVA within Oregon must contain a minimum __% of grapes grown in the respective appellation, rather than the __% mandated by federal law.
95%. 85%.
What mountain range provides a rain shadow effect for the bulk of Washington’s wine producing regions?
Cascade Mountains.
What is the one coastal AVA in Washington state?
Puget Sound AVA
What is the climate of Eastern Washington?
Continental. Frost and winter freezes are concerns but ripeness is achieved without a problem due to longer sunshine hours (byproduct of northern latitude)
What necessitates Washington’s focus on quality wine production vs. bulk wine?
Washington’s relative youth as a wine producer, entrenched wheat farming and a finite supply of water rights for irrigation
What is Washington’s largest AVA ?
Columbia Valley.
What was Washington’s first AVA? Smallest?
Yakima Valley. Red Mountain (known for Cabernet Sauvignon)
What AVA contains over 1/3 of Washington’s vineyards?
Yakima Valley
What area of Walla Walla Valley contains similar soils to the galets of Châteauneuf-du-Pape?
“The Rocks”
What grapes dominate Washington plantings?
Chardonnay, Riesling, Merlot (thrives- full, sweet, luscious), Cabernet Sauvignon.
Niagara, a grape popular in the Finger Lakes, is a cross of what two grapes?
An American cross of Concord and Cassady.
In the Finger Lakes, Niagara Escarpment and Lake Erie AVAs, the extremes of cold temperature are mitigated by water: the lake effect of the Great Lakes lowers the chance of damaging winter freezes and promotes a late budbreak, lessening the dangers of spring frost. True or False.
True.
What AVA of New York is shared with Ohio and Pennsylvania?
Lake Erie
Where is the Niagara Escarpment AVA located?
New York.
The Upper Mississippi River Valley AVA spans what states?
Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois
What is the Americas oldest winery and where is it located?
Casa Madero, established in 1597- located To the east of Baja, bordering Texas, is the state of Coahuila.
If a wine is labeled by varietal in California, what minimum percentage of the stated varietal is required?
75%
If a wine is labeled as a single vineyard designate in the US, what percentage of the grapes must be of that varietal? What percentage must be of that vineyard?
95%
California wines, that are labeled by county or state, must contain __% of CA grown fruit.
100%
Vintage dated wine labeled by state or county must contain at least __% of fruit from that vintage.
85%
Vintage dated wine labeled by AVA must contain at least __% of fruit from that vintage.
95%
Where is Ribbon Ridge?
Willamette Valley.
Where is Bien Nacido vineyard located?
Santa Maria Valley
Where is Horse heaven Hills?
Yakima County, Washington.
