What if you grew up in a town that everyone knew where it was, but you could not put the name of the town on your birth certificate, your driver’s license or even on a postcard? You would probably be a little frustrated, just like the winemakers in Calistoga, California used to be.

While many California wine lovers know that the town of Calistoga is located at the northern most edge of Napa Valley, most probably did not realize that until recently, wines produced in or near Calistoga could not reference the area on the label. That’s because Calistoga and the surrounding area was not recognized as a separate American Viticultural Area or AVA. The wines were traditionally labeled as “Napa Valley.”