For the February issue of the Review of Washington Wines, I wrote up the 2012 Otis Kenyon Washington State Malbec. I received this comment from Muriel Kenyon, "This Malbec is 100% from the Phinny Hill Vineyard, but we cannot put Horse Heaven Hills on the label as we are an Oregon Winery and HHH is entirely in the state of Washington. It's the same issue that will pop up once The Rocks District of Milton Freewater is approved and Washington wineries won't be able to put it on their label." I replied "I'll just put in that it is sourced from Phinny Hill. Calling a wine 'sourced" is what I do when wine is from a single vineyard but it not on the label."

This is one of those instances where state borders do matter with putting on wine labels certain AVAs (American Viticultural Areas) which are approved by the Treasury Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Bureau upon documentation that shows that a given area meets the criteria for a distinctive wine growing area.

When AVAs are approved, they can cover specified areas without consideration for state boundaries. There are two AVAs that straddle the Washington and Oregon borders: the Walla Walla Valley and the Columbia Gorge. Wineries within those areas can use their respective AVAs on their labels. Wineries can also put other AVAs on their labels so long as they are in the same state where the winery is located. For instance, the Barrister and Robert Karl wineries (both in the February issue) are located in Spokane, but since they are Washington wineries, they can put specific AVAs and vineyards on their labels.

However, if a winery is located in a state other than the one where the grapes come from, the wines can only specify the source state and not the AVA or vineyard, as in the case above of the Otis Kenyon Washington State Malbec. Simiilarly, the wines of Coeur d'Alene Cellars (also in the February issue) which is located in Idaho are are labeled as being from "Washington."

There also is some discretion allowed in how much grape source information is given on a wine label. A wine may be from the Yakima Valley, but can also be simply "Columbia Valley" or even "Washington State." Sometimes, how to label a wine can be simply a marketing decision. For a wine being marketed on the East Coast or in another country, Washington State may be more familiar than Columbia Valley or Yakima Valley.

Hopefully, all this will help clarify how American wines, especially Washington and Oregon ones, are labeled, and illustrate how state boundaries, at times, do matter.