New AVAs -- Good or Bad?

Definition
An appellation, or American Viticultural Area, is a wine term with a legal basis. An AVA is a federally approved name for a specific wine grape growing area with certain rules around it. American wine labels will have a government region on the label, such as California or Sonoma County, and/or will have an AVA, such as Sonoma Valley or Napa Valley.

Problem
Are there too damn many AVAs?

Famous and not so famous
Most everyone has heard of Napa Valley. Anyone paying any attention to American wines probably knows Sonoma Valley, Russian River Valley, Paso Robles, and Lodi. But then we get to some that maybe a few wine geeks outside of California maybe heard of or, more importantly, know what they mean for a wine. Green Valley, Chile Valley, Pine Mtn-Cloverdale Peak, Petaluma Gap, or Moon Mtn? Hint: One of those is from Napa, the rest from Sonoma.

When Willamette on you Pinot Noir isn't enough
Click on map to enlarge  (image from winefolly.com)

Who does this?
Most of these came about because to the locals living and growing grapes there it makes sense. To someone from outside of the area or not a wine geek they don't. Worse, they add confusion to the wine label for many people. It got to the point to where some places, like Sonoma County, are requiring the Sonoma County name to be on the label, too. If all you see for a location on the label is Florence Vineyard, Rockpile many people are going to say, "Huh?" Those grapes could come from Fresno for all they know.

Why?
So why do growers and winemakers keep asking for new AVAs? Money. The hope is it'll start some sort of supply-and-demand war where everyone is trying to buy Petaluma Gap Pinot Noir. Someone can't just say I want a new one and automatically get their own AVA. You have to show why this area is unique. In wine that relates to climate and soil. In Sonoma County, as I say, "You can walk to a different soil type in ten minutes; you can drive to a different micro-climate in ten minutes (or less). This makes it easy enough for everyone to have their request approved. "You get an AVA, and you get an AVA, everyone gets an AVA!"

AVAs might be costing you sales
So maybe on the super-premium wines it makes a difference, but on the grocery store wines and even wine shop wines it can be a detriment. I could see someone in Ohio looking at two Chardonnays. One says it's from Russian River Valley, the other Green Valley. They might pick the Russian River one because they've heard of that region -- without realizing Green Valley is actually within the Russian River Valley (a sub-appellation -- yeah, there is such a thing).