Alcohol; viticultural area designations: Shawnee Hills, IL,
[Federal Register: November 27, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 227)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 68463-68472]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr27no06-9]
DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau
27 CFR Part 9
[T.D. TTB-57; Re: Notice No. 39]
RIN 1513-AA70
Establishment of the Shawnee Hills Viticultural Area (2002R-345P)
AGENCY: Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, Treasury.
ACTION: Final rule; Treasury decision.
SUMMARY: This Treasury decision establishes the Shawnee Hills viticultural area in the Shawnee National Forest region of southern Illinois. We designate viticultural areas to allow vintners to better describe the origin of their wines and to allow consumers to better identify wines they may purchase.
DATES: Effective Date: December 27, 2006.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rita Butler, Regulations and Rulings Division, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, 1310 G Street, NW., Washington, DC 20220; telephone 202-927-8210.
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SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background on Viticultural Areas
TTB Authority
Section 105(e) of the Federal Alcohol Administration Act (the FAA Act, 27 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) requires that alcohol beverage labels provide consumers with adequate information regarding a product's identity and prohibits the use of misleading information on those labels. The FAA Act also authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to issue regulations to carry out its provisions. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) administers these regulations.
Part 4 of the TTB regulations (27 CFR part 4) allows the establishment of definitive viticultural areas and 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) contains the list of approved viticultural areas.
Definition
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 distinguishable by geographical features, the boundaries of which have been recognized and defined 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 viticultural areas allows vintners to describe more accurately the origin of their wines to consumers and helps consumers to identify wines they may purchase. Establishment of a viticultural area is neither an approval nor an endorsement by TTB of the wine produced in that area.
Requirements
Section 4.25(e)(2) of the TTB regulations outlines the procedure for proposing an American viticultural area and provides that any interested party may petition TTB to establish a grape-growing region as a viticultural area. Section 9.3(b) of the TTB regulations requires the petition to include--
Evidence that the proposed viticultural area is locally and/or nationally known by the name specified in the petition;
Historical or current evidence that supports setting the boundary of the proposed viticultural area as the petition specifies;
Evidence relating to the geographic features, such as climate, soils, elevation, and physical features, that distinguish the proposed viticultural area from surrounding areas;
A description of the specific boundary of the proposed viticultural area, based on features found on United States Geological Survey (USGS) maps; and
A copy of the appropriate USGS map(s) with the proposed viticultural area's boundary prominently marked.
Rulemaking Proceedings
Shawnee Hills Petition
TTB received a petition from Dr. Theodore F. Wichmann, president of Owl Creek Vineyard, Inc., and Dr. Imed Dami, Illinois State Viticulturist, proposing the establishment of the ``Shawnee Hills'' American viticultural area in southern Illinois. The proposed Shawnee Hills viticultural area lies within portions of Alexander, Gallatin, Hardin, Jackson, Johnson, Pope, Pulaski, Randolph, Saline, Union, and William counties. The Shawnee National Forest is located largely within the proposed area. The proposed viticultural area covers about 2,140 square miles or 1.37 million acres between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and is approximately 80 miles long east to west and 20 miles wide north to south. The proposed Shawnee Hills viticultural area encompasses a region of unglaciated hills and ridges that are from 400 to 800 feet higher in elevation than the flatter, glaciated land to the north and the river flood plains to the south.
Below, we discuss the evidence presented in the Shawnee Hills viticultural area petition. Name Evidence
The Shawnee Indian Nation, led by Chief Tecumseh and his brother, The Prophet, occupied the southern Illinois hill country in the early 1800s in an attempt to stem the flow of white settlers from the east. As a result, the petition states, the Shawnee name became attached to the hills, and academic and State government publications document the continued use of the name. For example, the book ``Land Between the Rivers'' (C.W. Horrell, et al., 1973), as cited in the petition, describes the region as follows:
South of the Mount Vernon hill country you come next to the Shawnee Hills [which mark] the southernmost limit of the prehistoric ice sheets. The Shawnee Hills culminate in Shawneetown Ridge, a heavily timbered wilderness of bluffs and knobs reaching up to an elevation of over a thousand feet, with rocky cliffs towering hundreds of feet above the valley floor. The Shawnee Hills are the heart of Southern Illinois [and] the 204,000 acre Shawnee National Forest. (pg. 11.)
The Illinois State Geological Survey map ``Landforms of Illinois'' (1980) labels the hills within the proposed viticultural area as the Shawnee Hills. In addition, an Illinois Department of Natural Resources brochure titled ``Illinois' Natural Divisions and Biodiversity'' (April 2002) describes the State's 14 unique natural regions. These regions are based upon such natural features as topology, geology, soils, and climate, as well as their unique flora and fauna. According to the brochure, the Shawnee Hills natural region consists of two sections, the Greater and the Lesser Shawnee Hills.
``Shawnee'' also appears in many other political and geographic names within the proposed viticultural area, including Shawneetown, Shawneetown Ridge, and the Shawnee National Forest, which lies largely within the proposed area. Furthermore, five wineries within the proposed viticultural area formed the ``Shawnee Hills Wine Trail'' in 1996, which is described in a brochure of the same name. According to the petition, the names ``Shawnee Hills'' and ``Shawnee Hills Wine Trail'' have been used numerous times in other national, State, and local publications. Boundary Evidence
People have raised grapes in southern Illinois and the Shawnee Hills since 1860, according ``Grape Culture'' by W.E. Gould (1891) as cited in the petition. The region contained 1,250 acres of vineyards in 1890, and vintners produced 19,750 gallons of wine in 1891, the petition adds, citing ``Grape and Wine Production in Illinois from 1983 to Present,'' by R.M. Skirvin, et al., in ``Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association Conference Proceedings'' (2000). Currently, there are eight wineries and 51 vineyards with approximately 160 acres planted to wine varietals within the proposed Shawnee Hills viticultural area, the petition states, citing ``1999 Grape Growers and Vintner's Survey,'' in ``Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association Conference Proceedings'' (2000).
Academic and Illinois State government publications describe the boundaries of the Shawnee Hills landform, and the petition included copies of these publications. As described by Horrell, et al., the Shawnee Hills is a region of unglaciated hills and ridges that extends across southern Illinois, about 80 miles long, from the Ohio River in the east to the Mississippi River in the west, and approximately 20 miles wide from north to south. The
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region's elevation is its most distinguishing feature, averaging roughly 400 to 800 feet higher in elevation than the glaciated land immediately to the north and the Mississippi and Ohio River flood plains immediately to the south.
According to the petition, and the State of Illinois publications and maps submitted with it, the eastern boundary of the Shawnee Hills landform is the bluff line along the Ohio River, while the landform's western boundary is the high bluff line above the Mississippi bottomland. The ``Illinois' Natural Divisions and Biodiversity'' brochure notes that the Mt. Vernon Hill Country section of the Southern Till Plain division lies north of the Shawnee Hills. As the petition and the accompanying publications note, the dividing line between the Shawnee Hills region and the Mt. Vernon Hill Country marks the southernmost advance of Ice Age glaciers. The area immediately to the south of the Shawnee Hills consists of the lowlands and flood plains found along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. This region, according to the petition, is commonly called the ``Cairo Delta.''
Differences between the natural boundaries of the Shawnee Hills region and the boundaries of the proposed Shawnee Hills viticultural area are minor and largely a matter of convenience. For example, a road near the base of the Mississippi River bluff rather than a complex meandering elevation line is used to mark a portion of the proposed area's western boundary. The proposed Shawnee Hills viticultural area boundary also follows, in places, the boundary of the Shawnee National Forest, which covers much of the Shawnee Hills region. Distinguishing Features Elevation
As noted by the petitioners and by Horrell, et al., in ``Land Between the Rivers,'' elevation is the most obvious feature distinguishing the Shawnee Hills from surrounding areas. As shown on the ``Paducah; Kentucky: Illinois-Missouri-Indiana'' USGS map (1987) submitted with the petition, the Shawnee Hills range from 400 to 800 feet higher in elevation than the glaciated land to the north and the river delta land to the south. Most of the highest elevations in Illinois, many above 1,000 feet, are in the Shawnee Hills.
According to the petition, spectacular hills and ridges and a unique mesoclimate characterize the proposed Shawnee Hills viticultural area. Nearly all vineyards in the proposed Shawnee Hills viticultural area are on ridge tops and bench lands ranging between 600 and 900 feet in elevation. As such, the commercial vineyards in the Shawnee Hills area have experienced little or no spring frost or winter freeze injury. An additional benefit of the Shawnee Hills topography, the petition notes, is the enhanced air circulation caused by constant summer breezes, allowing faster drying of vineyard leaves and fruit clusters following rain, thus minimizing the risk of fungal infections in an otherwise humid, wet climate.
In contrast, the Mt. Vernon Hill County region immediately to the north of the Shawnee Hills was glaciated, and, as a result, is 400 to 500 feet lower in elevation than the Shawnee Hills, according to the petition, which adds that the Mt. Vernon region is relatively flatter with no high ridges, cliffs, or gorges. Horrell, et al., describe the topography of the Mt. Vernon Hill Country as ``rolling farmland.''
The Cairo Delta area to the south of the Shawnee Hills is lower still, averaging about 300 to 400 feet in elevation, with an extremely flat topography that is often totally flooded by the Mississippi, Ohio, Wabash, and Cache Rivers, which all converge there. This delta region comprises all of the land in Illinois south of the Shawnee Hills. Horrell, et al. (1973), describe this area as follows:
Beyond Shawneetown Ridge the land drops away in gentle foothills to the low-lying swamps and lakes along the Cache River--the ancient bed of the Ohio River. Beyond Cache valley you come to the flood plain of the Ohio River itself. Two similar flood plains border Southern Illinois on the east and west, forming the banks of the Wabash and Mississippi rivers. Geology
The petitioners also note that the geological characteristics of the Shawnee Hills are a distinguishing feature. The ``Illinois Geological Survey,'' compiled by H.B. William, et al. (1967), as cited in the petition, notes that the backbone of the Shawnee Hills is the Shawneetown Ridge, a high ridge of Pennsylvanian, Caseyville Formation Battery Rock sandstone up to 600 feet thick, which runs east to west from the Ohio River south of the village of Shawneetown to the Mississippi River near the town of Chester. This rock is very obvious in the ridge's south-facing bluffs, as well as along the north-south roads cut through it. The ridge's northern slope consists primarily of Pennsylvanian, Abbott Formation, Grindstaff sandstone up to 350 feet thick. The southern slope consists primarily of Mississippian Upper Chesterian, Grove Church shale up to 65 feet thick, and Kinkaid Limestone, which is 110 to 180 feet thick. The bluffs above the Mississippi River consist primarily of Lower Devonian Clear Creek chert and Backbone limestone.
This underlying mixture of sandstone, chert, and limestone gives the Shawnee Hills a Karst-like topography, honeycombed with sinkholes and limestone caves feeding many surface springs, the petition states. One of the few such areas in Illinois, the petition notes that this combination of steep slopes, rock fissures, sink holes, and caves provides the proposed viticultural area with superior surface and ground water drainage in a region that often has excessive rainfall (38 to 46 inches annually).
In contrast, the petition notes, the Mt. Vernon Hill Country to the north of the Shawnee Hills was totally glaciated, resulting in lower elevations, flatter topography, and a different geology. The southern portion of the Mt. Vernon Hill Country consists primarily of Pennsylvanian, Spoon Formation, Curlew limestone layered with DeKoren and Davis coal, as well as Carbondale Formation, Piasa limestone with number 2, 5, and 6 coals. The northern part of the Mt. Vernon Hill Country area consists primarily of Modesto Formation Shoal Creek limestone 200 to 500 feet thick with number 7 and 8 coal throughout, as well as Bond Formation, Millersville limestone 100 to 350 thick. Horrell, et al. (1973), describe this area as ``a great crescent stretching southeast from Randolph and Perry counties to Gallatin county, where coal beds come so close to the surface that they have made this the most heavily mined region in the state.''
Also in contrast, the petition notes that the Cairo Delta area south of the Shawnee Hills was flattened by water from both glacial melt and the tremendous flow and flooding of the two largest rivers in the country--the Mississippi and the Ohio, which eroded and replaced rock with clay, sand, and gravel. According to the ``Illinois State Geological Survey,'' the northern part of the delta area consists of Cretaceous, Gulfian McNary sand, and Tuscaloesa gravel. The southern part of the delta region consists of Paleocene and Eocene Wilcox Formation, Porters Creek clay 75 to 150 feet thick. Climate
Another distinguishing factor of the proposed Shawnee Hills viticultural area, according to the petitioners, is its climate. While the Shawnee Hills area generally has a continental climate, as
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does all of the Midwestern United States, the hills climatically separate the upper Midwest from the South. The petition states that the Shawnee Hills region is warmer than the adjacent areas to the north but cooler than the adjacent areas to the south, which are often too hot in the summer to grow quality grapes. This climate provides a longer growing season for ripening late varieties of grapes, higher degree- days for optimum ripeness, and fewer winter occurrences of below-zero degree Fahrenheit temperatures, which can kill buds and damage wood on many grape varieties, according to the petition.
As evidence of this unique climate, the petition included data from the Midwestern Climate Center (http://mcc.sws.uiuc.edu/summary) for Mt.
Vernon, Anna, and Cairo, Illinois. Anna is located within the proposed Shawnee Hills viticultural area; Mt. Vernon, which is within the Mt. Vernon Hill Country region, is approximately 50 miles north of Anna; while Cairo, which is within the Cairo Delta region, is approximately 35 miles south of Anna.
The table shown below, which the petitioners provided, compares Shawnee Hills, Mt. Vernon, and Cairo temperature data. The table shows that the Shawnee Hills could be classified as a mid-Region IV climate in the Winkler heat summation climate classification system, with 3,770 growing degree-days. (During the growing season, one degree day accumulates for each degree Fahrenheit that a day's median temperature is above 50 degrees, which is the minimum temperature required for grapevine growth. See ``General Viticulture,'' by Albert J. Winkler, University of California Press, 1974.)
Heat Summation as Degree-Days Above 50 Degrees Fahrenheit for the Period April 15 to October 15
Degree days over 50[deg] F
Winkler climate Climate station
Apr 15-Oct
region Apr 15-30 May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sept Oct 1-15 15
Mt. Vernon........................
108
447
706
835
774
550
123 3,543 Low Region IV Anna..............................
127
498
733
868
815
587
142 3,770 Mid Region IV Cairo.............................
159
586
823
950
872
643
168 4,201 Low Region V
Source Midwest Climate Center Data: http://mcc.sws.uiuc.edu/summary/data.
For the proposed Shawnee Hills viticultural area, average temperatures are highest from mid-June to mid-August during early ripening; then the temperatures taper off in September and October, which is the period of late ripening and harvest. Typically, the area experiences warm days and cool nights from late August to October.
The table below, which the petitioners also provided, describes the length of growing season for the three areas (Mt. Vernon, Anna, and Cairo). For the Shawnee Hills, the median last spring frost occurs by April 10. In 10 percent of the years, the last frost occurred after April 23. North of this area, the median last spring frost occurs in mid-April, with 10 percent occurring after May 2. Since bud break generally occurs during the second week of April, areas to the north of the Shawnee Hills often experience more bud and shoot damage due to late frost. Also, since the first frost in the fall occurs one to three weeks later in the Shawnee Hills than in areas to the north, late varieties such as Chambourcin and Norton ripen more fully before leaf drop.
Growing Season Summary, 1961-1990 Base Temperature = 32 Degrees Fahrenheit
Date of last spring frost
Date of first fall frost
Length of growing season occurrence
occurrence
----------------------------------- Station
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Median
90%
10% Median
90%
10% Median
90%
10%
Mt. Vernon..................................
4/12
3/27
5/02 10/16 10/03 10/29
184
207
150 Anna........................................
4/10
3/23
4/23 10/27 10/12 11/07
200
215
186 Cairo.......................................
3/24
3/01
4/08 11/13 10/31 11/28
233
260
214
Source Midwest Climate Center Data: http://mcc.sws.uiuc.edu/summary/data.
Because the Midwestern United States is a continental climate, one of the limiting factors in growing quality wine grapes is dormant wood and bud damage due to extreme cold temperatures in the winter. The next table, as provided by the petitioners, shows that the Shawnee Hills area averages 81 days below 30 degrees Fahrenheit and 1.8 days below 0 degrees Fahrenheit each year. The region immediately to the north averages 104 days below 30 degrees Fahrenheit and 3.5 days below 0 degrees Fahrenheit. One or two days of extreme cold can mean the difference between a full crop and healthy wood, and a partial crop and damaged wood.
Average Annual Temperature Variation [Averages: 1961-1990; Extremes: 1896-2000]
Average annual temperature (degrees
Annual number of days of fahrenheit)
minimum temperature Station
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Maximum
Minimum
Mean
