If you’ve ever wanted to see what your favourite terroir looked like from the air, you can now do it from the comfort of your office.
Appellation America – a website dedicated to building ‘appellation consciousness’ – has uploaded satellite maps of some 3,400 wineries across North America.
You can now view mountaintop plantings at Ridge Vineyards, Long Island vines surrounding New York’s Pelligrini Vineyards, wineries in North Carolina, Texas, Oregon and Minnesota.
Appellation America comprehensively lists every North American appellation, from Grand River Valley, Iowa to Texoma, Texas, cross-referencing some 3000 winery addresses, with detailed features on all aspects of AVAs (American Viticultural Areas).
‘The trend in America has been to name wine after the owner, to achieve universal marketing greatness rather than regional distinctiveness,’ managing editor Adam Dial said.
Dial’s father Roger, who founded the site, told decanter.com, ‘Global wine culture has been built on the geographic identity of wine for centuries.
‘Alone this year, 16 new AVAs were created in the United States. Yet the name identity of these regions is practically zero. By putting wineries on the Internet for all to see, we hope to contribute to building appellation identity.’
Not all wineries are available via satellite because some rural areas are not recorded.
Written by Panos Kakaviatos
