The federal government has given Malibu an important designation — status as the Malibu Coast AVA (American Viticultural Area), an official classification that reflects the unique characteristics of this specific grape-growing region.

“We want to put Malibu on the map,” says Elliot Dolin, former bass player for the original Manhattan Transfer and owner of Dolin Estate who grows Chardonnay on his property. Officially, Malibu Coast joins two already established AVAs: Malibu-Newton Canyon, designated in 1996, and Saddle Rock-Malibu in 2006. All three AVAs share similarities including high elevations, warm temperatures, marine fog and volcanic soils. Malibu Coast will be the umbrella designation with the other two AVAs agreeing “to be the AVA within the AVA, and that lends credibility to all of Malibu,” Dolin tells The Hollywood Reporter.

Prior to AVA, status wines made in Malibu would have been designated on the front wine label as simply Los Angeles County. “That’s not a sense of identity,” says Dolin. “But Malibu Coast conjures a positive vision, a sense of place,” he says. The new AVA is 46 miles long, eight miles wide, and includes 52 grape growers with 198 acres of vines and elevations ranging from sea level to 3,100 feet. To the north, the AVA is bounded by Newbury Park, Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village along the 101 highway; to the south is the Pacific Ocean, to the west Oxnard and to the east is Los Angeles.