High atop Spring Mountain, cult favourite Pride Mountain straddles the Napa-Sonoma border and bottles vintages under both appellations.

BBC: Mini guide to California's wineries

Note, this is not an exhaustive list of all Loire appellations, but rather a place to start.

FORBES: Choose Your Own Wine Adventure In The Loire Valley

Twenty-two out of 39 listed companies that changed their names last year picked new appellations that included e-this or cyber-that or somethingdotcom.

CNN: Change Is in the Air

This diversity helps produce truly great wines that rival those found in grander appellations and will cellar well, providing enjoyment for many years.

WSJ: Will Lyons on Wine: The Wild Beauty of France's Roussillon and Its Wines

Mr. BILL SCHWEITZER (Owner, Pachelo Vineyard): Today is the first day that we can officially use it on labels, which is what appellations are all about.

NPR: Ramona Valley: New American Viticultural Area

Today two other wine-producing areas received their own appellations: the Wahluke Slope viticultural area in Grant County, Washington, and the Texoma viticultural area in north central Texas.

NPR: Ramona Valley: New American Viticultural Area

That complexity is represented by the wines made in Burgundy and Bordeaux, which operate under the AOC system (controlled appellations that are in reality brand cooperatives).

FORBES: Bye-Bye Bordeaux

These sterner, more structured Syrah-based wines may be more forbidding in their youth than their southern counterparts, but the best possess an admirable depth, complexity and ageability, apparent even in wines from "lesser" appellations like Crozes-Hermitage.

WSJ: My Wine Goals for the Year, More and Less | On Wine by Lettie Teague