ATF permits anyone to petition it for a rule change. The process is not restricted to wineries or grape growers, although to date there have not been any AVAs established which have come from non-industry representatives. The Bureau is required to give all petitions careful consideration, and must advise the petitioner of the action taken on the petition. Normally, rule change petitions are required to identify the section or sections of law involved and set forth reasons for the requested action. However, ATF by regulation sets forth the evidentiary criteria it expects for all viticultural area petitions.
Recognition starts with the filing of a petition.
For U.S.G.S . In selecting the names that are to be published, the map makers make sure that the most important ones are included and that the overall density of names and descriptive labels is appropriate for the scale of the map. The proposal is also available in Adobe Acrobat format. Public hearings to receive oral testimony on viticultural area petitions, which were routine for earlier AVAs, are very uncommon now. While the regulatory process to establish a viticultural area has become hearing-less, petitions to establish viticultural areas are required to be much more persuasive.