The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau on Jan. 21 established the Los Olivos District, the sixth American Viticultural Area in Santa Barbara County’s wine region.
The ruling will be effective Feb. 22.
The newest AVA is 22,820 acres and is located within the established Santa Ynez Valley AVA, which also includes the sub-appellations known as Ballard Canyon, Happy Canyon and Sta. Rita Hills.
It is the sole Santa Barbara County AVA to include townships (Santa Ynez, Los Olivos and Ballard), and has within its borders many of Santa Barbara County’s original bonded wineries.
The new AVA includes 12 bonded wineries and approximately 47 commercial vineyards, according to the TTB.
The Los Olivos District shares its western boundary with the eastern border of the Ballard Canyon AVA, and its eastern boundary abuts the western boundary of the Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara AVA.
Karen Steinwachs, winemaker at Buttonwood Farm Winery & Vineyard, commended Brander Winery’s owner Fred Brander for doing “all the heavy lifting” with the efforts to get the new AVA established.
Both Brander and Buttonwood wineries are within the new appellation.
“Fred has been leading the charge for years now, and after a few meetings with winery and vineyard people, he got some input from geologists and hydrologists and put together the application,” Steinwachs said.
The subsequent research “turned out to be quite fascinating, in that whereas other sub-AVAs have differing soil types throughout, the Los Olivos District is very consistent with soils, and the aquifer sits right here underneath us in this big triangle. It was so educational to read through the research: This is truly a terroir-based application,” she continued.
Steinwachs noted that she isn’t sure the Los Olivos District will focus on a specific varietal, such as pinot noir and chardonnay in the Sta. Rita Hills, and syrah in Ballard Canyon.
“Of course, Fred and I lean toward sauvignon blanc and Bordeaux reds, but there are also Rhones and Spanish and Italian grapes and even German at Solminer.”
Steinwachs also pointed out that the Los Olivos District appellation petition had so many positive comments, “and nary a refute.”
The TTB designates a viticultural area so that vintners can better describe and market their wines, and so consumers can better identify wines.
The record for the Los Olivos District AVA can be viewed on the “Regulations.gov” website (http://www.regulations.gov) within Docket No. TTB–2015–0004.
Copies of the relevant rulemaking documents and a link to the Regulatons.gov docket may be found on the TTB website.
— Laurie Jervis blogs about wine at www.centralcoastwinepress.com, tweets at @lauriejervis and can be reached via winecountrywriter@gmail.com. The opinions expressed are her own.