Napa Valley · Appellation

Wild Horse Valley

Established in 1988 and among the smallest, least-planted AVAs in the country, Wild Horse Valley sits at 1,200 to 1,400 feet in the Vaca Mountains, spilling east into Solano County. Its quartz- and granite-flecked Hambright-Toomes stony loam has no volcanic character at all — a rarity for Napa — and combined with its elevation and bay exposure, makes it the coolest of the valley's sub-AVAs, suited almost exclusively to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.