New TTB rule allows multi-state labeling of imported wines

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, the federal agency that collects excise taxes on alcohol, recently announced a new rule that will allow the imported wine labels to include multi-state appellations of origin. According to the rule announcement released in March,

This amendment provides treatment for imported wines similar to that currently available to domestic wines bearing multi-state appellations. It also provides consumers with additional information regarding the origin of these wines.

Section 4.25(d) defines appellations of origin for American wines as:

• The United States;
• A State;
• Two or no more than three States which are all contiguous;
• A county;
• Two or no more than three counties in the same State; or
• A viticultural area as defined in § 4.25(e).

American wines can include an appellation of origin on a label if at least 75 percent of the wine is derived from fruit or agricultural products grown in the appellation area indicated. Prior to the announcement of this rule, there was no identical rule for imported wines.

With this amendment, imported wines coming from two to three contiguous political subdivisions are also allowed to use a multi-state appellation in their labels if:

• All of the fruit or other agricultural products were grown in the indicated political subdivisions, and the percentage of the wine derived from fruit coming from each political subdivision is shown on the label with a tolerance of plus or minus 2 percent; and
• The wine conforms to the wine laws of their place of origin.

The Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation (AWBC) submitted a petition to TTB to amend the definition of an appellation for imported wines to permit the labeling of Australian wines with multi-state appellations.