The Horse Heaven Hills AVA is home to over one quarter of Washington’s planted acreage. The area is among Washington’s warmer growing regions, making it an ideal place for Cabernet Sauvignon which makes up a large percentage of plantings. Many vineyards in the Horse Heaven Hills are planted on south-facing slopes, providing for extended sun exposure.

Like many of Washington’s growing regions, the Horse Heaven Hills is located on an anticline of the Yakima fold belt, a series of wrinkles in the earth that create slopes ideal for grape growing. The area has an arid and semi-arid, continental climate. As with almost all areas of eastern Washington, irrigation is therefore required to grow wine grapes.