(Wines&Vines) - After a year of relative quietude on the grape and wine front, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) issued a flurry of news in the past two months, establishing new AVAs and posting other AVA petitions for public comment. Perhaps the most notable, and certainly the most controversial, was the decision announced Nov. 16 to expand the boundaries of the Russian River Valley and Northern Sonoma AVAs. Requested by Gallo Family Vineyards and backed by (among others) fellow corporate giant Constellation Wines, the expansion had been opposed by a majority of public comments, mostly from grapegrowers and vintners within the existing AVA borders.