The USA will soon have the world's largest wine appellation - the 4m hectare Upper Mississippi River Valley AVA.
Covering 48,142km sq (4.8m ha or 29,914 square miles) over four states, the AVA averages 193km (120 miles) from east to west, 362km (225 miles) from north to south.
It encompasses some or all of ten counties in Minnesota, nine in Illinois, 18 in Iowa, and 23 in Wisconsin. The northern boundary begins near St Paul, Minnesota in the north to Moline, Illinois in the south.
The AVA is more than double the size of Wales (20,779km sq), and fifty times greater than Bordeaux (100,000ha or 1000km sq).
Representatives of the four states involved filed the petition in 2006. It will take effect 22 July 2009.
Lake Wisconsin, established in 1994, is the only AVA which currently lies within the new UMRV AVA.
It contains producers of some repute. The Wollersheim Winery of Prairie du Sac, for example, works with a range of grapes including Sangiovese and Bonarda, and has earned some 267 medals over the past 20 years.
The application for the UMRV AVA was based upon evidence of a glacial retreat 15,000 years ago.
The resultant water flows combined with the St Croix River and what became Lake Superior to form this bedrock.
As federal tobacco subsidies have diminished, and wine consumption has risen in the US, many tobacco farmers, especially in Wisconsin, have switched over to growing grapes.
Due to the abundance of cold and humidity, French and other hybrids dominate the region.
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I would like to point out that the title of "appellation"
for an American Viticultural Area is inaccurate.
American Viticultural Areas are only indications of
geographical origin, and are in no way comparable to what
are commonly known as appellations (in the European Union),
which include all sorts of regulations on authorised grape
varieties, and viticultural practices, in addition to a
geographically defined area.
Perhaps the title should instead, read as: "World's largest
geographical indication for wine comes into being"?
Daniel Chia, Singapore
The Geographic Indication known as "Southeast Australia" comprises all of Victoria, all of New South Wales, all of Tasmania and great portions of South Australia and smaller sections of Queensland. New South Wales alone is 309,130 square miles, or over 10 times the size of the Upper Mississippi River Valley AVA.
Patrick W Fegan, Chicago, USA
If Mark Twain, America's greatest satirist, could comment posthumously on the creation of the Upper Mississippi River Valley AVA, he might repeat one of his famous remarks: 'The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year.'
This bring me to the sponsors of this soon-to-be American Viticultural Area, which seems larger than some foreign countries. They show less sense of bedrock reality than Twain (born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910), whose memoir 'Life on the Mississippi' relives his steamboat days.
Do they expect the most terroir-conscious connoisseur to pop into Sherry-Lehmann at 6:30 p.m. and say: 'I need a red for dinner. What to you have from Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin or one of their sub-regions?'
The only unifying feature of an appellation occupying 29,914 square miles is that the bruisingly cold winters give winegrowers to much idle time to dream up fantasies of distinctiveness.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they plan to erect giant propellers and make their vineyards do extra duty as wind farms. The power generated might fuel the efforts of lots of wine commentators who are new to the blogosphere.
Howard G Goldberg, New York City, USA
Maybe, the suggestion to create a Earth VA is adequate. Certainly,
planet Earth with its terroir has all the right characteristics that
enables to sustain great wine grape production. The existence of air,
soil, liquid water, heat that allows biological growth, moderate
climate and the lack of poisonous gasses in large quantities, create
an unique environment. The unified presence of the EVA marketing body
would strengthen Earth's wine as a Brand and present an economic
advantage to compete with other Worlds Viticultural areas.
Paulo Prado
World's largest buffoonery emerges from Upper Mississippi. Who won what medals where is irrelevant when millions of hectares are involved. To take a hypothetical example, Schultz's Keokuk Chardonnay Veilles Vignes 2009 might have floored Steve Spurrier when he confused it with DRC Montrachet 2001 (I would not, however, bet the old farm on it), but Br'er Schultz has only .7 hectares and produces exactly 11 cases of wine per vintage. Schultz's fellow vignerons produce 11 trillion hectolitres, the greatest part of which is entitled to be called "wine" only by courtesy. So call it Upper Mississippi or North Pole; the wine is what matters.
Lewis C. Taishoff, New York, NY
This has to be some kind of king-sized joke. The only reason this would have been done is so a (very) few producers can now label their wine by vintage, put some kind of geographic description on their bottle besides "American," and list the alcohol content on the bottle so it may be sold across state borders. This AVA makes as much sense as that special bottle of Bordeaux Viognier: It is useless. This country should remember that we had truth in labeling laws before we had AVA's. And, like most AVA's which exist, they have no reason for being. Besides, I thought one of the requirements for being able to earn an AVA was demonstrating that the area produces distinct wine. Well, maybe they win on that count: It probably is distinct, but I would be shocked if it's memorable.
Kevin Beck, USA
I'm amused, while the southern boundary of the MS River Valley wine region is stated as being near Moline, in northwest IL, that a picture of a winery accompanying at least two stories on this is located in Makanda, IL, some 200 miles to the south in southern Illinois!
Dick McLane
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