California's North Coast AVA covers a vast stretch of land to the north of San Francisco and is one of the three California mega-AVAs (the others being Central Coast and South Coast) that allow vintners a free hand to blend grapes from different regions without using a generic California appellation. The North Coast includes some of the nation's most famous appellations including Napa and Sonoma Counties. The highest quality wines from the North Coast will typically be labeled with these more prestigious, high profile appellations. As such, when seen on a label, North Coast typically indicates a more mass market blend of grapes harvested from multiple regions.

The size of the cover-all designation makes it difficult to generalize as to wine styles, but in the broadest sense the North Coast is a mountainous region in proximity to the cooling influence of the Pacific Ocean. This makes for wines that have more varietal character and balanced acidity than those from hot inland regions. (Wine/Appellations)