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EAST COAST WATCH MARGUERITE THOMAS ery's name." Not one of them knew, or cared, what an AVA is. Perhaps my friends are simply in the wrong generation. Millennials, according to many, tend to be somewhat better informed about AVAs, as are people who spend more money on wine. "We've seen that people who buy wines $15 and up tend to be much savvier about the importance of geographic identity than older generations," said David Braganini, president of Michigan's largest winery, St. Julian. "The more you can educate consumers the better." According to Christian Miller, research director at Wine Opinions, a Napa Valley consumer research firm, many shoppers who recognize appellations are also apt to be swayed by name recognition. "There is plenty of evidence that frequent wine consumers have significantly different quality and value perceptions of different AVAs," w w w. v w m media.com Miller said. "Controlled quantitative label tests indicate that changing the AVA on a label, with everything else being equal (graphics, brand/ winery name, varietal, etc.), will change the purchase decision for 5%-20% of frequent wine consumers, depending on the particular AVA and grape variety. That said, a strong brand or winery name can trump the AVA effect, depending on context." The more I listened to others talk about appellations, the more I began to feel that the system is somewhat duplicitous, intentionally or not, in suggesting to consumers that the wine inside a bottle with an AVA designation is inherently superior in quality. And of course the truth is that the wine may be excellent – or not – since terroir is but one component in determining the quality of a wine. If it takes years and plenty of cash to establish an AVA, if consumers don't understand its purpose, and if it has no particular impact on wine quality, I began to ask what the ultimate point of the AVA system is. Eventually I came around to accepting that, while far from perfect, AVAs can be valuable. Braganini may have summed it up best: "Time will tell if this is the right business model," he said, "but certainly the most important thing in wine is the source of the grapes." Marguerite Thomas is a Baltimorebased journalist and photographer who contributes wine-related articles to several national and international publications. She is the author of the books "Wineries of the Eastern States" and "Visiting East Coast Wineries." Comments? Please e-mail us at feedback@vwmmedia.com. J u l y - A u g 2 0 13 | V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T 31