Silver Oak is to cabernet what Porsche is to luxury cars. You don’t need to be a wine expert to know the Silver Oak name, or to know that they make some pretty amazing California cabernets.
Unlike a lot of commercially successful wine companies, Silver Oak has never been interested in branching out into other popular California varieties like Chardonnay or Zinfandel. The Silver Oak team is interested in doing one thing and doing that one thing really well. Today, the company makes just two wines: a Napa Valley Cabernet and an Alexander Valley Cabernet.
From the name to the instantly recognizable silver, the tree-clad label on the bottle, Silver Oak is synonymous with iconic California cabernets.
Silver Oak wines are special, even among California’s premier cabernets. They aren’t just special because they’re one of California’s most loved wine brands, or because their winery is considered the most sustainable winery in California.
Silver Oak, along with a handful of other Napa Valley wineries is part of Napa Valley’s Cabernet Class of 1972. This milestone marks more than just fifty years in business, the Class of 72’ represents the highest concentration in consequential wineries ever to be created in a single year in California. This was the decade that brought California winemakers the recognition they deserved on the world stage.
Along with Silver Oak, Caymus, Jordan, Clos du Val, Mount Veeder, Chateau Montelena, Cakebread, and Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, all began making wine in 1972.
Ray Twomey Duncan and Justin Meyer, believed Silver Oak wines should embody three things: Cabernet Sauvignon, American oak, and the ability to age for decades.
The two men struck a handshake deal in 1972 that made them equal partners in a 258-acre dairy farm and cattle ranch in Napa’s Oakville district. At the time of the purchase, there was just a smattering of Zinfandel vines on the property, but the two men saw unlimited potential in the land.
Starting from scratch, they tilled the soil, laid irrigation pumps, and set up a freeze-resistant system to protect their new investment. A year later, the first vines were planted, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Written this way, one might think the pieces just fell into place for Ray and Justin, but, remarkably, the deal between the two men almost didn’t happen. When Ray first brought the Oakville property to Justin and made the offer to become equal partners, Justin turned him down!
Luckily for the wine world, at 6 am the morning after declining the original offer, Justin had a change of heart and accepted Ray’s partnership proposal.
Fifty years after its founding, Silver Oak remains a family-run business.
Silver Oak is known for a lot of things, but many wine drinkers don’t know that it’s known for its sustainability. In fact, Silver Oak has been called the most sustainable winery in California.
The Alexander Valley tasting room, located in Healdsburg, is certified through the Living Building Challenge, which is the world’s most rigorous sustainability model. The process for certification is so demanding that only 25 other buildings in the world are classified as “living buildings” through the program.
To break this down into layman’s terms, the Alexander Valley tasting room:
You can learn more about the sustainable design of Silver Oak’s Alexander Valley tasting room here.
The 2017 Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is 95.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3.6% Merlot, 0.5% Cabernet Franc, and 0.3% Petit Verdot.
In the glass, this Alexander Valley Cabernet is a deep garnet color, with lovely clarity and brightness. The nose on the wine is immediate and beautiful. The American oak that Silver Oak is known for delivers vanilla and oak elements, and the blend of cabernet, merlot, cab franc, and petit verdot provide notes of black cherry, black currant, and herbaceous sage.
This cabernet is all about balance: balanced acidity, alcohol, and weight on the palate. Notes of wild raspberries, juicy black currants, prunes, and minerally wet gravel are all presented in a way that’s familiar and inviting. Hints of oak elegantly tie it all together.
Silver Oak’s winemaker, Christiane Schleussner, describes the 2017 Alexander Valley vintage as rustic, but silky. The merlot and cab franc offers up warm notes of cinnamon to smooth out the tannins of this slightly austere cabernet.
The best thing about this wine might be the finish, it’s long, satisfying, and encourages easy drinking.
Overall, we rate the 2017 Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon a 90-point score, for a B grade. Cellar Tracker has this wine at 90.9, so the wine community seems to be on the same page with this one.
To be sure, Silver Oak produces good wines. The nose on the wine really pops, and the notes are what you’d expect. These days, however, the bar for the best of the best California cabernets demands just a bit more to truly show off in the glass – these wines are upwards of $200 a bottle, and many of them are waitlisted or allocation only.
For $90 a bottle, Silver Oak is almost in a category all its own, a category that might be described as value-driven “luxury” Cabernet.
USA
Alexander Valley
Cabernet Sauvignon
14.2%
Laura Oskwarek
62–68°F / 16–20°C
Large Bordeaux
30 Minutes
Now to 2032
Silver Oak Cellars
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