Washington, D.C. — On Thursday, October 9, 2014, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) will publish a final rule in Federal Register establishing 11 new American viticultural areas within the existing Paso Robles viticultural area in San Luis Obispo County, California. The 11 new viticultural areas are: Adelaida District, Creston District, El Pomar District, Paso Robles Estrella District, Paso Robles Geneseo District, Paso Robles Highlands District, Paso Robles Willow Creek District, San Juan Creek, San Miguel District, Santa Margarita Ranch, and Templeton Gap District. The 11 new viticultural areas and the existing Paso Robles viticultural area are located within the larger Central Coast viticultural area.
TTB is issuing this regulation in response to a petition from an association of local vintners and grape growers. TTB designates viticultural areas to allow vintners to better describe the origin of their wines and to allow consumers to better identify wines they may purchase.
This final rule is effective on November 10, 2014. The public may view the rulemaking record for the 11 new viticultural areas on the “Regulations.gov” website (http://www.regulations.gov) within Docket No. TTB–2013–0009. Copies of the relevant rulemaking documents and a link to the Regulatons.gov docket may be found on the TTB website at http://www.ttb.gov.
