THE U.S. TO GIVE THE “UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY” THE AVA SEAL. WITH ITS 4.8 MILLION HECTARES IT’S THE LARGEST WINE DENOMINATION IN THE WORLD

The U.S. will soon have the largest denomination wine producing area in the world. The Upper Mississippi River Valley AVA (American Viticultural Area), is an area of 48,142 square kilometers (29,914 square miles) that spans four states with a distance of 193 km (120 miles) from East to West and 262 km (225 miles) from North to South.
The Upper Mississippi River Valley AVA includes 20 counties in Minnesota, nine in Illinois, 18 in Iowa, and 23 in Wisconsin. The western boundary is near St. Paul, Minnesota, the southern border in Moline, Illinois. This area is almost fifty times larger than the Bordeaux winemaking region of France (100,000 hectares or 1,000 square km).
The representatives of this vast winemaking area presented the AVA denomination request in 2006 and on July 22, 2009 the Upper Mississippi River Valley AVA became legally recognized. The only other AVA that had been recognized in this area was Lake Wisconsin, instituted in 1994. The main motive behind this gigantic operation is because the area, primarily an area of tobacco cultivation until just recently, has been forced to re-think its agriculture after the current massive decline in cigarette consumption. The creation of new wineries is a phenomenon that could be capable of creating significant returns and, considering the climate that is right for winemaking it may just be the most productive course for this region. Source: www.decanter.com

AVA Explained:
AVA (American Viticultural Area) is a recognition similar to that of the French denomination Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée. Created in 1983, the American version of this denomination has the primary goal of guaranteeing that at least 85% of the grapes used to make a bottle of wine with the AVA seal comes from the specified winemaking region in the U.S.. The recognition is given by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. The problems, however, with this denomination is that an AVA wine actually gives the consumer very little guarantees: the grapes cultivated in the far end of a vast region most probably have nothing to do with grapes cultivated 25 miles away in the same region, and there is also no obligation to list the grape varieties that have been used to make the wines.