America
American wine have been produced for over 300 years. Today, wine production is performed in all fifty states, with California leading the way in wine production followed by Washington State, Oregon and New York. The United States is the 4th largest wine producing country in the world after France, Italy, and Spain.
The early American appellation system was based on the political boundaries of states and counties. In Sept. 1978, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (now Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau) developed regulations to establish American Viticultural Areas (AVA) based on distinct climate and geographical features. There were 187 distinct AVAs designated under US law as of April 2007.
In order to have an AVA appear on a wine label, at least 85% of the grapes used to produce the wine must be grown in the AVA.
With the larger state and county appellations the laws vary depending on the area. For a County Appellation, 75% of the grapes used must be from that county. If grapes are from 2 or 3 contiguous counties, a label can have a multi-county designation so long as the percentages used from each county are clearly on the label. For the majority of US States, the State Appellation requires 75% of the grapes in the wine to be grown in the state, Texas requires 85% and California requires 100%. If grapes are from two to three contiguous states a wine can be made under a multi-state designation following the same requirements as the multi-county appellation.
Concerning the vintage, at least 95% of grapes must be from a particular vintage for that year to appear on the label.