The Martha's Vineyard AVA is an

American Viticultural Area An American Viticultural Area (AVA) is a designated wine grape-growing region in the United States, providing an official appellation for the mutual benefit of winery, wineries and consumers. Winemakers frequently want their consumers to know abo ...

located in Dukes County,

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, including all of the land on the islands named

Martha's Vineyard Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, lying just south of Cape Cod. It is known for being a popular, affluent summer colony, and includes the smaller peninsula Chappaquiddick Isla ...

and

Chappaquiddick Island Chappaquiddick Island ( ; Massachusett language: ''tchepi-aquidenet''; colloquially known as "Chappy”) is a peninsula and occasional island off the eastern end of Martha's Vineyard. Norton Point, a narrow barrier beach, connects Martha's Vin ...

. These two islands are located off the southern Massachusetts coast, surrounded by

Vineyard Sound Vineyard Sound is the stretch of the Atlantic Ocean which separates the Elizabeth Islands and the southwestern part of Cape Cod from the island of Martha's Vineyard, located offshore from the state of Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), ...

, Nantucket Sound, and the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

. The creation of the AVA in 1985 was controversial. Objections were lodged by the proprietors of a

vineyard A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

also named Martha's Vineyard, who felt that the creation of an AVA with the same name would dilute their

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

value. Federal regulators ruled in favor of the AVA, citing historical evidence that

viticulture Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine ...

has been practiced on the Massachusetts island named Martha's Vineyard since at least 1602. The maritime location helps to create a slightly warmer

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...

than the nearby coastal regions of Massachusetts, and a

growing season A season is a division of the year marked by changes in weather, ecology, and the amount of daylight. The growing season is that portion of the year in which local conditions (i.e. rainfall, temperature, daylight) permit normal plant growth. Whi ...

that is almost three weeks longer. The

hardiness zone A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most widely ...

is 7a. File:Road Marthas Vineyard AVA.jpg, alt= File:Marthas Vineyard AVA winemaking press.jpg, alt= File:Marthas Vineyard AVA vines.jpg, alt= File:Marthas Vineyard AVA.jpg, alt= File:Vines Marthas Vineyard AVA.jpg, alt= File:Grape Vines Marthas Vineyard AVA.jpg, alt=

References

American Viticultural Areas Geography of Dukes County, Massachusetts Geography of Martha's Vineyard Massachusetts wine 1985 establishments in Massachusetts {{DukesCountyMA-geo-stub