Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This Treasury decision expands by 2,635 acres the existing 609,673-acre Paso Robles American viticultural area in San Luis Obispo County, California. The expanded Paso Robles viticultural area lies entirely within San Luis Obispo County and the multicounty Central Coast viticultural area. 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.

In response to an industry association request, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau extends the comment period for Notice No. 83, Proposed Revision of Distilled Spirits Plant Regulations, a notice of proposed rulemaking published in the Federal Register on May 8, 2008, for an additional 90 days.

In response to an industry member request, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is reopening the comment period for Notice No. 90, Proposed Expansions of the Russian River Valley and Northern Sonoma Viticultural Areas, a notice of proposed rulemaking published in the Federal Register on August 20, 2008.

As part of our continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, and as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we invite comments on the proposed or continuing information collections listed below in this notice.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau proposes to expand the Russian River Valley and Northern Sonoma American viticultural areas in Sonoma County, California. The Russian River Valley viticultural area proposed expansion of 14,044 acres would increase the size of that viticultural area to 169,028 acres. The Northern Sonoma viticultural area proposed expansion of approximately 44,244 acres would increase the size of that viticultural area to 394,088 acres. 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. We invite comments on this proposed change to our regulations.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau proposes to establish the 29,914-square mile ``Upper Mississippi River Valley'' American viticultural area in portions of southeast Minnesota, southwest Wisconsin, northwest Illinois, and northeast Iowa. 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. We invite comments on this proposed addition to our regulations.

In response to an industry member request, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau extends the comment period for Notice No. 83, Proposed Revision of Distilled Spirits Plant Regulations, a notice of proposed rulemaking published in the Federal Register on May 8, 2008, for an additional 90 days.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau proposes to expand by 2,635 acres the existing 609,673-acre Paso Robles American viticultural area in San Luis Obispo County, California. If this change is approved, the expanded Paso Robles viticultural area would continue to lie entirely within San Luis Obispo County and within the multi- county Central Coast viticultural area. 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. We invite comments on this proposed change to our regulations.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau announces the withdrawal of its proposal to establish the Tulocay viticultural area in southern Napa County, California. We take this action because of questions regarding the actual name of the proposed viticultural area and to avoid the use of potentially misleading statements on wine labels.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is adopting as a final rule, without changes, the temporary regulations implementing the certification requirements regarding production practices and procedures for imported natural wine. These requirements were adopted in section 2002 of the Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 2004 as an amendment to section 5382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

This Treasury decision establishes the ``Swan Creek'' viticultural area in Wilkes, Yadkin, and Iredell Counties, North Carolina. 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.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is adopting as a final rule, with some clarifying changes and editorial corrections, the temporary regulations set forth in T.D. ATF-444. These temporary regulations eliminated the onsite preshipment inspection of, and the requirement to complete several ATF forms for, shipments to the United States of tobacco products and cigarette papers and tubes manufactured in Puerto Rico.

This Treasury decision expands the Alexander Valley viticultural area in Sonoma County, California, by 1,300 acres along its northwestern boundary line. 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.

This Treasury decision expands the San Francisco Bay viticultural area in northern California. The expansion adds 88 square miles to the viticultural area to its north in Solano County, California. 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.

In response to industry member requests, we are extending the comment period for Notice No. 78, Proposed Revision of American Viticultural Area Regulations, a notice of proposed rulemaking published in the Federal Register on November 20, 2007, for an additional 60 days.

This Treasury decision adopts as a final rule, without change, a temporary rule that allows manufacturers of tobacco products and cigarette papers and tubes to remove these articles without payment of tax for use by Federal agencies in law enforcement activities, and without inclusion of the otherwise required tax-exempt label.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau proposes to establish the 13.4 square mile ``Leona Valley'' viticultural area in the northeast part of Los Angeles County, California. 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. We invite comments on this proposed addition to our regulations.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) proposes to amend its regulations concerning the establishment of American viticultural areas (AVAs). The proposed changes address the effect that the approval of an AVA may have on established brand names. In addition, the proposed changes provide clearer regulatory standards for the establishment of AVAs within AVAs. The proposed amendments also clarify the rules for preparing, submitting, and processing viticultural area petitions. Finally, we propose to add to the regulations statements regarding the viticultural significance of established viticultural area names, or key portions of those names, for wine labeling purposes.

In response to an industry member request, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau extends the comment period for Notice No. 73, Labeling and Advertising of Wines, Distilled Spirits, and Malt Beverages, a notice of proposed rulemaking published in the Federal Register on July 31, 2007, for an additional 90 days.

In this notice, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) proposes to amend its regulations regarding the mandatory labeling requirements for alcoholic beverages. The proposed regulatory changes would permit alcohol content to appear on other labels affixed to the container rather than on the brand label as currently required. These regulatory changes will provide greater flexibility in alcoholic beverage labeling, and will conform the TTB wine labeling regulations to the recent agreement reached by members of the World Wine Trade Group regarding the presentation of certain information on wine labels.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is adopting as a final rule, with minor technical changes, temporary regulations that revised the list of materials authorized for the treatment of wine and juice and the list of processes authorized for the treatment of wine, juice, and distilling material. The regulatory amendments involved the addition of new materials and processes and changes to the limitations on the use of certain approved materials.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) proposes to amend its regulations to require a statement of alcohol content, expressed as a percentage of alcohol by volume, on all alcohol beverage products. This statement may appear on any label affixed to the container. TTB also proposes to require a Serving Facts panel on alcohol beverage labels, which would include a statement of calories, carbohydrates, fat, and protein. Industry members may also choose to disclose on the Serving Facts panel the number of U.S. fluid ounces of pure alcohol (ethyl alcohol) per serving as part of a statement that includes alcohol content expressed as a percentage of alcohol by volume. The proposed regulations would also specify new reference serving sizes for wine, distilled spirits, and malt beverages based on the amount of beverage customarily consumed as a single serving. However, TTB is not defining a standard drink in this document. TTB proposes to make these new requirements mandatory three years after the date of publication of the final rule in the Federal Register. The agency proposes these amendments to ensure that alcohol beverage labels provide consumers with adequate information about the product.

As part of our continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, and as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we invite comments on the proposed or continuing information collections listed below in this notice.

In response to a request from a viticulture industry group, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau extends the comment period for Notice No. 71, Proposed Establishment of the Paso Robles Westside Viticultural Area, a notice of proposed rulemaking published in the Federal Register on January 24, 2007, for an additional 30 days.

This Treasury decision establishes the Outer Coastal Plain viticultural area in southeastern New Jersey. The viticultural area consists of approximately 2,255,400 acres and includes all of Cumberland, Cape May, Atlantic, and Ocean Counties and portions of Salem, Gloucester, Camden, Burlington, and Monmouth Counties. We designate viticultural areas to allow bottlers to better describe the origin of their wines and to allow consumers to better identify the wines they may purchase.