Proposed Establishment of the Rancho Guejito Viticultural Area

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY <SUBAGY>Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau</SUBAGY> <CFR>27 CFR Part 9</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. TTB-2024-0004; Notice No. 233]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 1513-AC98</RIN> <SUBJECT>Proposed Establishment of the Rancho Guejito Viticultural Area</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, Treasury. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Notice of proposed rulemaking. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) proposes to establish the 32,360-acre “Rancho Guejito” American viticultural area (AVA) in San Diego County, California. The proposed AVA is located entirely within the existing South Coast AVA and would partially overlap the existing San Pasqual Valley AVA. TTB designates viticultural areas to allow vintners to better describe the origin of their wines and to allow consumers to better identify wines they may purchase. TTB invites comments on these proposals. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> TTB must receive your comments on or before October 28, 2024. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> You may electronically submit comments to TTB on this proposal using the comment form for this document as posted within Docket No. TTB-2024-0004 on the “Regulations.gov” website at <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov.</E> Within that docket, you also may view copies of this document, its supporting materials, and any comments TTB receives on this proposal. A direct link to that docket is available on the TTB website at <E T="03">https://www.ttb.gov/wine/notices-of-proposed-rulemaking</E> under Notice No. 233. Alternatively, you may submit comments via postal mail to the Director, Regulations and Ruling Division, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, 1310 G Street, NW. Box 12, Washington, DC 20005. Please see the Public Participation section below for further information on the comments requested regarding this proposal and on the submission, confidentiality, and public disclosure of comments. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Karen A. Thornton, Regulations and Rulings Division, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, 1310 G Street NW, Box 12, Washington, DC 20005; phone 202-453-1039, ext. 175. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Background on Viticultural Areas</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">TTB Authority</HD> Section 105(e) of the Federal Alcohol Administration Act (FAA Act), 27 U.S.C. 205(e), authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe regulations for the labeling of wine, distilled spirits, and malt beverages. The FAA Act provides that these regulations should, among other things, prohibit consumer deception and the use of misleading statements on labels, and ensure that labels provide the consumer with adequate information as to the identity and quality of the product. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) administers the FAA Act pursuant to section 1111(d) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, codified at 6 U.S.C. 531(d). In addition, the Secretary of the Treasury has delegated certain administrative and enforcement authorities to TTB through Treasury Order 120-01. Part 4 of the TTB regulations (27 CFR part 4) authorizes TTB to establish definitive viticultural areas and regulate the use of their names as appellations of origin on wine labels and in wine advertisements. Part 9 of the TTB regulations (27 CFR part 9) sets forth standards for the preparation and submission of petitions for the establishment or modification of American viticultural areas (AVAs) and lists the approved AVAs. <HD SOURCE="HD2">Definition</HD> Section 4.25(e)(1)(i) of the TTB regulations (27 CFR 4.25(e)(1)(i)) defines a viticultural area for American wine as a delimited grape-growing region having distinguishing features, as described in part 9 of the regulations, and a name and a delineated boundary, as established in part 9 of the regulations. These designations allow vintners and consumers to attribute a given quality, reputation, or other characteristic of a wine made from grapes grown in an area to its geographic origin. The establishment of AVAs allows vintners to describe more accurately the origin of their wines to consumers and helps consumers to identify wines they may purchase. Establishment of an AVA is neither an approval nor an endorsement by TTB of the wine produced in that area. <HD SOURCE="HD2">Requirements</HD> Section 4.25(e)(2) of the TTB regulations (27 CFR 4.25(e)(2)) outlines the procedure for proposing an AVA and provides that any interested party may petition TTB to establish a grape-growing region as an AVA. Section 9.12 of the TTB regulations (27 CFR 9.12) prescribes standards for petitions to establish or modify AVAs. Petitions to establish an AVA must include the following: • Evidence that the area within the proposed AVA boundary is nationally or locally known by the AVA name specified in the petition; • An explanation of the basis for defining the boundary of the proposed AVA; • A narrative description of the features of the proposed AVA that affect viticulture, such as climate, geology, soils, physical features, and elevation, that make the proposed AVA distinctive and distinguish it from adjacent areas outside the proposed AVA boundary; • The appropriate United States Geological Survey (USGS) map(s) showing the location of the proposed AVA, with the boundary of the proposed AVA clearly drawn thereon; • If the proposed AVA is to be established within, or overlapping, an existing AVA, an explanation that both identifies the attributes of the proposed AVA that are consistent with the existing AVA and explains how the proposed AVA is sufficiently distinct from the existing AVA and therefore appropriate for separate recognition; and • A detailed narrative description of the proposed AVA boundary based on USGS map markings. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Petition To Establish the Rancho Guejito AVA</HD> TTB received a petition from Rancho Guejito Vineyard, Inc., proposing to establish the “Rancho Guejito” AVA. The proposed AVA is located in San Diego County, California, and is entirely within the existing South Coast AVA (27 CFR 9.104) and, if established, would partially overlap the established San Pasqual Valley AVA (27 CFR 9.25). Within the proposed AVA, there are seven commercial vineyards which cover a total of 49.5 acres. At the time the petition was submitted, an additional four new vineyards and the expansion of three existing vineyards were planned. The distinguishing features of the proposed Rancho Guejito AVA are its topography, geology, and climate. The petition also included information about the soils of the proposed AVA. However, because the petition did not include information about the soils of the surrounding regions for comparison, TTB was unable to determine if soils are a distinguishing feature of the proposed AVA. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Proposed Rancho Guejito AVA</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">Name Evidence</HD> The proposed Rancho Guejito AVA takes its name from the Rancho Guejito y Cañada de Paloma land grant, which the Mexican Governor issued to José María Orozco in 1845. According to the petition, the land grant's name translates to “ranch with a stream in a glen of the dove.” The petition notes that of the 800 ranchos recognized by the U.S. Government, Rancho Guejito is the only one whose boundaries remain intact. The proposed Rancho Guejito AVA will encompass the entire original land grant and the adjacent slope areas that contribute to Guejito Creek. The petition included a copy of an 1882 newspaper advertisement for 100 tons of grapes for sale by the Vineyard Ranch, which was located within the rancho, showing that commercial grape growing within the proposed AVA dates to the late 19th century. The petition included evidence that the region of the proposed AVA is currently known as “Rancho Guejito.” For instance, a 2007 newspaper article about the region of the proposed AVA is titled “Rancho Guejito-Southern California's land that time forgot.”  <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> In 2013, the Escondido Public Library held a talk about “the historic Rancho Guejito,” which was described as “the last undeveloped Mexican land grant rancho in San Diego County * * *.”  <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> A 2019 newspaper article about the visit of then-Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue to an avocado farm within the proposed AVA is titled “U.S. Ag Secretary tours Rancho Guejito avo [sic] farm.”  <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> A 2019 story about the San Diego Mountain Bike Association's “Ride the Rancho” event is titled “Rancho Guejito opens doors to San Diego mountain bikers.”  <SU>4</SU> <FTREF/> The Escondido Creek Conservancy website states that “Rancho Guejito is imbedded in our cultural history, but is also a critical part of our natural history * * *.”  <SU>5</SU> <FTREF/> Finally, the San Diego County Vintners Association lists the Rancho Guejito Vineyard as a member. <SU>6</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>   <E T="03">https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/rancho-guejito-8212-southern-californias-land-that-time-forgot.</E> </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>  Originally accessed at <E T="03">https://library.escondido.org/rancho-guejito-revisited-at-the-escondido-public-library.aspx.</E> A copy of the article is included in the appendix to the petition in Docket No. TTB-2024-0004 at <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov.</E> </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>3</SU>   <E T="03">https://www.times-advocate.com/articles/u-s-ag-secretary-tours-rancho-guejito-avo-farm.</E> </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>4</SU>   <E T="03">https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2019/mar/25/ranch-guejito-opens-doors-san-diego-mountain-biker.</E> </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>5</SU>   <E T="03">https://escondidocreek.org/news/an-eagle-eye-view-of-ran ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 44k characters. 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