In today's LATimes:
WineLabeling/AVAs
Nothing really new on the AVA front in Corie's good interview of the man (JohnManfreda) behind it all. She asked some good questions and it gives a peek into his mind.
One interesting tidbit: The impetus for his ingredient labeling on wine comes from the nutball outfit CSPI, based on a 2005 federal law mandating ingredient labeling on prepared foods. So..does this mean wine is a "prepared food" and not an "alcoholic beverage" and, therefore, not subject to all those cracy regulations?? Is this good or bad??
Another interesting tidbit: They've developed computer-aided mass spectrometer techniques to indentify a wine's variety, but only if it's 100% of that variety. Manfreda is hoping they can refine the technique to identify the varietal content and determine if a 100% Pinot, as the label indicates, is beefed up with Syrah, and thus catch fradulent vintners
Tom