United States · Napa

Black Stallion Estate Winery

Napa Valley estate winery on Silverado Trail, owned by the fourth-generation Indelicato family since 2010, built around Cabernet Sauvignon sourced across seven Napa sub-appellations.

The producer

Black Stallion Estate Winery sits on 32 acres along Silverado Trail, the road that runs the eastern length of Napa Valley. The property has a prior life: from the 1950s through the 1990s it was the Silverado Horseman's Center, a working equestrian facility founded by Richard Tam and Ben Hardister. When the land was purchased in October 2005 and the winery opened in July 2007, the original stone-walled stable was left standing. It is the barrel cellar now, where Cabernet Sauvignon ages behind walls built for horses.

The Indelicato family acquired Black Stallion in 2010 and brought it into Delicato Family Wines, their fourth-generation California operation. The family's wine history begins with patriarch Gaspare Indelicato, who planted his first California vineyard in 1924. A century later, in 2024, Delicato reached its centennial while Black Stallion held a 2023 Wine Enthusiast American Winery of the Year award. Cabernet Sauvignon runs across two tiers: a Napa Valley bottling blended from seven sub-appellations at 90 percent Cabernet Sauvignon with Petite Syrah and Syrah additions, and a North Coast tier built for earlier drinking at a softer body weight. The winery installed more than 1,000 solar panels in 2017 and holds California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance certification.

Known for

Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, two-tier range from Napa Valley to North Coast

Notable facts

The story

The Walls Did Not Move

Richard Tam and Ben Hardister built the Silverado Horseman's Center in the 1950s on a parcel of valley floor along Silverado Trail. For four decades, the stone-walled stable housed horses and the riding ring served equestrian training. By the 1990s the center had closed. In October 2005, new owners purchased the land and began converting it into a winery. When Black Stallion opened in July 2007, nobody had torn down the stable. The stone walls that Tam and Hardister put up to keep horses in now enclose the rows of barrels where Cabernet Sauvignon ages. The riding ring became the small-lot winery. The building changed its contents; the walls did not move.

From the atlas

Black Stallion Estate Winery

At A Glance

Location: 4089 Silverado Trail, Napa Valley, California Ownership: Delicato Family Wines (Indelicato family), since 2010 Flagship grape: Cabernet Sauvignon Appellation coverage: Seven Napa Valley sub-appellations Key bottle: Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

The Producer

Black Stallion Estate Winery sits on 32 acres along Silverado Trail, the road that runs the eastern length of Napa Valley. The winery opened in July 2007, but the property had a prior life: from the 1950s through the 1990s, it was the Silverado Horseman's Center, a working equestrian facility founded by Richard Tam and Ben Hardister. When Exclusive Estates Wine Group purchased the land in October 2005, they kept the stone-walled stable standing. It is the barrel cellar now.

In 2010, the Indelicato family acquired Black Stallion and brought it into Delicato Family Wines, their fourth-generation California operation. The family's wine history begins with patriarch Gaspare Indelicato, who planted his first California vineyard in 1924. A century later, in 2024, Delicato reached its centennial while Black Stallion held a 2023 Wine Enthusiast American Winery of the Year award. Black Stallion is the family's Napa property: Cabernet Sauvignon at two price tiers, sixteen varietal types in total, and a production facility certified by the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance.

Place

Napa Valley is a federally recognised American Viticultural Area running roughly 30 miles from Carneros in the south to Calistoga in the north. Within that boundary, there are more than a dozen sub-appellations with distinct soils, elevations, and temperature ranges. Silverado Trail runs along the valley's eastern edge, parallel to Highway 29, and the properties along it draw fruit from multiple Napa districts rather than a single village parcel.

Black Stallion sources across seven Napa sub-appellations. Bottles labelled Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon can legally blend fruit from anywhere within that outer designation, which gives the winemaking team latitude to balance ripeness, acidity, and body vintage by vintage. The North Coast tier pulls fruit from a broader California coastal appellation that takes in Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, and neighboring counties, and sits at a softer, more approachable weight than the Napa-labelled range.

Soil And Site

The Silverado Trail corridor runs along alluvial fans and bench soils that have washed down from the Vaca Mountains to the east. These soils tend toward gravel and loam with reasonable drainage, conditions that limit vine vigor and concentrate fruit. The valley floor in this stretch has warm days tempered by afternoon bay breezes moving north from the San Pablo Bay, which preserve the acidity in ripe Cabernet Sauvignon. Specific parcel names and soil mapping for Black Stallion's sourced vineyards are not publicly documented.

Story

Gaspare Indelicato arrived in California and planted his vineyard in 1924 in the San Joaquin Valley. The family expanded into what became Delicato Family Wines, a fourth-generation operation.

The move into Napa came with the 2010 acquisition of Black Stallion. It was a step up in appellation prestige and price tier. Delicato already operated at scale; Black Stallion gave the family an estate address on Silverado Trail with an existing winery building, a functioning hospitality facility, and the architecture for a two-tier Cabernet Sauvignon range. Ralf Holdenried took the Director of Winemaking role and has led production since.

In 2017, Black Stallion installed more than 1,000 solar panels to supply a share of winery energy needs. The California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance certification followed. These were production-scale investments, not small gestures, and they sit alongside the equestrian-era stable walls.

Vineyards And Cellar

Black Stallion sources Cabernet Sauvignon from seven Napa sub-appellations. Drawing across multiple districts gives the blending team a broader palette of ripeness levels and structural profiles: fruit from cooler Carneros sites carries more acidity and lighter body than fruit from warmer mid-valley addresses. The resulting Napa Valley blend can be assembled to a consistent house style regardless of vintage variation in any single district.

The Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is a blended wine by design. Petite Syrah and Syrah enter the blend at 5 percent and 3 percent respectively, with other varieties making up the remaining 2 percent. Petite Syrah adds inky color and firm, close-grained tannin. Syrah adds dark fruit depth and spice. Both varieties work as structural co-signatories to the Cabernet base rather than flavour modifiers.

The barrel cellar sits inside the original stone stable, where the heavy masonry keeps temperatures even year-round. Specific ageing durations and oak regimes are not publicly documented.

Wines

Cabernet Sauvignon drives the range at both tiers. The Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is the primary bottle: 90 percent Cabernet Sauvignon with Petite Syrah, Syrah, and other varieties filling the blend. The Petite Syrah contribution pushes color depth and tannin density; Syrah adds a darker fruit register and some spice behind the Cabernet's cassis and dark cherry core. The 2023 vintage scored 92 points from Wine Enthusiast.

The North Coast Cabernet Sauvignon draws fruit from outside the Napa designation, covering a wider California coastal geography. It is positioned as softer and more approachable in body, with less concentration than the Napa tier. Where the Napa bottle is a structured, age-worthy expression, the North Coast is built for earlier drinking.

Beyond Cabernet, the winery lists Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Malbec, Syrah, Viognier, Marsanne Roussanne, Sauvignon Blanc, Albariño, Gewürztraminer, Tempranillo, Rosé, and a dessert wine. Sixteen varietal types in total. This breadth reflects a hospitality-facing range designed to serve a tasting room across occasions and palates rather than a focused single-variety or single-appellation program.

In The Glass

The Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is a 90 percent Cabernet blend with Petite Syrah and Syrah additions. Specific tasting characteristics are not published by the producer; Wine Enthusiast's 92-point rating in 2023 indicates broad market reception.

The North Coast Cabernet Sauvignon is positioned as a softer, more approachable expression than the Napa tier and is built for earlier drinking.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. It is a 90 percent Cabernet Sauvignon blend with Petite Syrah and Syrah additions, sourced across seven Napa sub-appellations and aged in the stone-walled cellar on Silverado Trail. In the glass it is dark, structured, and Cabernet-forward: cassis and dark cherry on the nose, firm tannin from the Petite Syrah addition, and enough acidity to keep the fruit from going flat. The 2023 vintage scored 92 points from Wine Enthusiast and gives a clear read on what the winery does at its main price tier.

Anecdote

Richard Tam and Ben Hardister built the Silverado Horseman's Center in the 1950s on a parcel of valley floor on Silverado Trail. For four decades, the stone-walled stable housed horses and the riding ring served equestrian training. By the 1990s the center had closed. In October 2005, Exclusive Estates Wine Group purchased the land and began converting it into a winery. When the building work was finished and Black Stallion opened in July 2007, nobody had torn down the stable. The stone walls that Tam and Hardister put up to keep horses in now enclose the rows of barrels where Cabernet Sauvignon ages. The riding ring became the small-lot winery. The building changed its contents; the walls did not move.

Final Word

Black Stallion is a Napa estate built on a long family arc: a vineyard planted in 1924, a fourth-generation company, and a property that held horses before it held wine. The core bottle is the Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, a structured blend across seven sub-appellations that scored 92 points from Wine Enthusiast in its 2023 vintage. Wine Enthusiast named Black Stallion American Winery of the Year in 2023.

Sources

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