Cru

Translated in English as “growth,” the word cru can mean a vineyard or an estate, usually a superior one, that has been classified geographically or by reputation. A classified cru is known as a cru classé. Within any given classification (such as those in Bordeaux and Burgundy), there are Premiers Crus (first growths), Grands Crus (great growths), and so on. The word is the past participle of the French verb croître, meaning to grow.

The first American Viticultural Area (AVA) was the Finger Lakes in New York State.

Answer: False.

But it’s not the Napa Valley either. The honor actually goes to Augusta, Missouri, which earned the official U.S. federal designation in June 1980, eight months before Napa Valley. An American Viticultural Area (AVA) is a designated appellation of origin used on American wine labels. An AVA is distinguished by geographic, geologic, and climatic features, with boundaries defined by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). There are currently 246 recognized AVAs in the U.S.—over half (139) are in California. Beginning in the mid 1800s, German settlers founded the Missouri wine region and Augusta became, for a time, the wine capital of the country. Prohibition forced growers nationwide to pull up wine grape vines (vitis vinifera), and many (including in Missouri) replanted with American species grapes such as concord, a vitis labrusca (or table grape) variety. Following the end of Prohibition, Augusta was slow to return to wine grape cultivation and California eventually took the wine capital title it still holds today.

“I liken making pinot noir to waking up a woman at three in the morning. You never quite know what you’re going to get.”

—Luke Smith
Owner and winemaker, Howling Bluff Winery, British Columbia

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