Story

THE DALLA VALLE
VINEYARDS STORY

Before there was a winery, there was simply a dream — and two people willing to follow it to the end of a dirt road.

Naoko Dalla Valle and her late husband, Gustav, an Italian-born diving equipment entrepreneur, arrived in Napa Valley in the early 1980s drawn by the original dream to create a hotel and restaurant that could rival the best Relais & Chateaux properties. When they discovered a rugged, sun-drenched parcel on the eastern hillsides of Oakville — its volcanic, iron-rich soils unlike anything they had encountered — they recognized it as something rare. They decided to make it their home.

The early years were ones of learning and becoming. Gustav and Naoko immersed themselves in the rhythms of the valley, leaning on the generosity of their friends — fellow growers and winemakers who shared knowledge, time, and encouragement with the quiet openness that has long defined the Napa Valley community. It was through these relationships, as much as through the land itself, that the idea of making wine took root — not as a business venture, but as an expression of place and of life.

In 1986, that vision became a reality. Dalla Valle Vineyards was formally founded on just twenty acres of hillside, modest in size yet unique in character. And then, the following year — the same year their daughter Maya came into the world — Gustav and Naoko planted a five-acre block of Cabernet Sauvignon in her honor. Maya's Vineyard, as it would come to be known, has since become one of the most celebrated winegrowing sites in America.

Today, Dalla Valle Vineyards is guided by Naoko and Maya Dalla Valle, a mother-and-daughter partnership that carries forward everything that was quietly set in motion on those hillsides four decades ago. Working alongside Vineyard Manager Edgar Alfaro and a devoted team, they steward every vine, every vintage, with the meticulous care and singular purpose that the finest wines in the world demand — honoring the past, and tending carefully toward the future.