Upper Hiwassee Highlands AVA

Upper Hiwassee Highlands is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) that straddles two counties in the southwestern corner of North Carolina, United States, adjacent to the Tennessee border across state lines into three counties of northern Georgia. It is located near the southern end of the Blue Ridge Mountains and expands over portions of Cherokee and Clay Counties, North Carolina into Fannin, Towns and Union Counties, Georgia. The appellation was established, as the Georgia's initial and North Carolina's 4^th AVA, on July 17, 2014 by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), Treasury after reviewing the petition submitted by Eric Carlson, owner of Calaboose Cellars, on behalf of himself and members of the Vineyard and Winery Operators of the Upper Hiwassee River Basin group, proposing the viticultural area to be named "Upper Hiwassee Highlands."

The viticultural area, when established, encompassed approximately 690 sq mi (441,600 acres) with 54 acres (22 ha) being cultivated on 26 commercial vineyards. According to the petition, the vineyard owners estimated to expand plantings of 75.5 acres (30.6 ha) in the next five years. Two new vineyards were also in the planning stages and expected to add an additional of 16 acres (6 ha) to the total acreage by the end of 2013. Five wineries were operating within the proposed AVA at the time the petition was submitted. The region is mainly in hardiness zone 7b with elevated areas in zone 7a