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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 162 / Wednesday, August 25, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
Santa Lucia Highlands-Arroyo Seco Boundary Modification Petition TTB received a petition from Patrick Shabram on behalf of the Santa Lucia Highlands Wine Artisans, proposing to modify the boundary of the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA 27 CFR 9.139 and the adjacent Arroyo Seco AVA 27 CFR
9.59. The Santa Lucia Highlands AVA
and the Arroyo Seco AVA are both located within Monterey County, California, and are both located entirely within the established Monterey AVA
27 CFR 9.98 and the Central Coast AVA 27 CFR 9.75. The proposed boundary modifications include two separate actionsremoving approximately 376 acres from the Santa Lucia Highlands viticultural area, and removing 148 acres from the Arroyo Seco viticultural area and placing them entirely within the Santa Lucia Highlands viticultural area.
The first proposal would remove approximately 376 acres from the northern part of the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA. The petition states that the proposed reduction area is within the floodplain of the Salinas River and that no vineyards are planted or proposed in this location. The land removed from the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA would remain within the Monterey AVA and the Central Coast AVA.
According to the petition, the topography and soils within the proposed reduction area are more similar to those of the Monterey and Central Coast AVAs than to the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA. For example, the proposed reduction area is located in the floodplain of the Salinas River, has little-to-no slope, and does not have a clear easterly orientation. By contrast, the majority of the established Santa Lucia Highlands AVA is located on a series of alluvial fans and terraces that have a predominately eastern orientation and slope angles ranging from 5 to 30 percent. Additionally, the soils in the proposed reduction area are primarily Psamments and Fluvents, which are suborders of Entisols that are sandy and have little organic material.
These soils are uncommon in the remainder of the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA, where Chualar loams are the most common soil, comprising almost 32
percent of the total soils. Chualar loams are described as very deep, well-drained soils formed in alluvial material from mixed rock sources.
The second proposed modification affects a portion of the shared Santa Lucia Highlands-Arroyo Seco AVA
boundary. The modification would remove 148 acres of foothills terrain
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from the western side of the Arroyo Seco AVA and place them entirely within the southeastern region of the Santa Lucia Highlands. One vineyard containing approximately 135 acres of vines would be affected by this boundary realignment, and the vineyard owner included a letter of support in the petition. The modification would reduce the size of the Arroyo Seco AVA
by less than 1 percent and would not have any impact on the boundaries of the Monterey AVA or the Central Coast AVA.
The proposed realignment area is located on an alluvial fan with an easterly orientation and slope angles above 5 percent. The petition states that these topographic features are similar to the alluvial fans found in the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA, whereas the majority of the Arroyo Seco AVA has a gentler slope that gradually becomes nearly flat and lacks an eastern orientation. The soils in the proposed realignment area are mostly Placentia sandy loam, Chualar, and Arroyo Seco soils. All three soils are found in both the Santa Lucia Highlands and Arroyo Seco AVAs. However, the petition states that this combination of soils is more commonly found within the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA, and Placentia sandy loams are not common in the Arroyo Seco AVA outside of the proposed realignment area.
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Comments Received TTB published Notice No. 192 in the Federal Register on July 20, 2020 85 FR
43754, proposing to modify the boundaries of the Santa Lucia Highlands and Arroyo Seco AVAs. In the notice, TTB summarized the evidence from the petition regarding the name, boundary, and distinguishing features for the proposed reduction area and the proposed realignment area. For a detailed description of the evidence relating to the name, boundary, and distinguishing features of the proposed boundary modification areas, see Notice No. 192.
The comment period for Notice No.
192 closed September 18, 2020. In response to Notice No. 192, TTB
received a total of eight comments.
However, two of the comments did not contain information related to the proposed boundary modifications, or to the AVA program in general, and were not posted to the public docket. All six comments that were posted to the public docket supported the proposed boundary modifications to the Santa Lucia Highlands and Arroyo Seco AVAs.

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TTB Determination After careful review of the petition and the comments received in response to Notice No. 192, TTB finds that the evidence provided by the petitioner supports the modifications of the boundaries of the Santa Lucia Highlands and Arroyo Seco AVAs. Accordingly, under the authority of the FAA Act, section 1111d of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, and parts 4 and 9
of the TTB regulations, TTB modifies the boundaries of both AVAs effective 30 days from the publication date of this document.
Boundary Description See the narrative description of the boundary modifications of the Santa Lucia Highlands and Arroyo Seco AVAs in the regulatory text published at the end of this final rule.
Maps The petitioners provided the required maps, and they are listed below in the regulatory text. The modified Santa Lucia Highlands and Arroyo Seco AVA
boundaries may also be viewed on the AVA Map Explorer on the TTB website, at https www.ttb.gov/wine/ava-mapexplorer.
Impact on Current Wine Labels and Transition Period Part 4 of the TTB regulations prohibits any label reference on a wine that indicates or implies an origin other than the wines true place of origin. For a wine to be labeled with an AVA name or with a brand name that includes an AVA name, at least 85 percent of the wine must be derived from grapes grown within the area represented by that name, and the wine must meet the other conditions listed in 4.25e3 of the TTB regulations 27 CFR 4.25e3.
If the wine is not eligible for labeling with an AVA name and that name appears in the brand name, then the label is not in compliance and the bottler must change the brand name and obtain approval of a new label.
Similarly, if the AVA name appears in another reference on the label in a misleading manner, the bottler would have to obtain approval of a new label.
Different rules apply if a wine has a brand name containing an AVA name that was used as a brand name on a label approved before July 7, 1986. See 4.39i2 of the TTB regulations 27
CFR 4.39i2 for details.
The approval of the boundary realignments does not affect the Monterey AVA or the Central Coast AVA. Bottlers using Monterey or Central Coast as an appellation of origin or in a brand name for wines
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