2021 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
At over 50 years old Silver Oak is one of the few wineries to embody the pioneering spirit of Napa Valley. The 2021 Silver Oak Napa Valley Cabernet shows a structure running its roots deep. A vibrant bouquet of black cherry and blackberry; warm vanilla spice is mingled with smoked paprika and truffles. Ripe and generous right now it has the sturdy structure to reward cellar aging.
Pre-Sale Offering. Wine will ship early February.
There are few wineries in California that embody the pioneering spirit of Napa Valley better than Silver Oak. Founded in 1972, Ray Duncan went all-in with Cabernet Sauvignon early in the game, and the rest, as they say, is history. This mighty oak's roots run deep, and have helped this family-owned winery stand tall and strong amidst Napa's constant winds of change. While many wineries with Silver Oak’s track record and sales volume are content to rest on their laurels and coast, this Oakville institution is relentlessly pursuing perfection anew. They’re doing it primarily in the vineyard, modifying their vineyard practices to ensure that every grape is optimally ripe before it enters the winery. They even have a machine that rolls through the vineyard, scanning and measuring the diameter of emerging shoots in order to map vine vigor (and therefore determine irrigation and pruning needs). That’s pretty intense. The results speak for themselves.
Decanter
Silver Oak’s 2021 Napa Valley Cabernet might well be one of the finest wines they’ve produced. Compact and beautifully poised, it marries generosity of fruit with a firm structural frame and focused aromatics. A panoply of blackberry and warm spice—smoked paprika, cinnamon, tobacco—lifts from the glass, interwoven with black truffle and loamy earth. Full-bodied, with a solid foundation of lengthy tannins buttressing the wine, it’s carried by a firm spine of juicy acidity. Rich oak spices are balanced by graphite minerality, a potpourri of dried flowers, and a chalky-earth finish that lingers. This is undoubtedly set to be one of Silver Oak’s longest-lived wines: ripe and generous enough to enjoy young, yet built on a sturdy foundation that will reward long-term cellaring. 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot, 3% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Malbec are blended before barreling down for 24 months in American oak, of which 85% was new, 15% was once-used, and aged 20 additional months in bottle before release.
James Suckling
Great concentration and gorgeous fruit flavors lead the way in this firmly textured wine from an especially good year. Red and black cherries, black tea and dried blueberries on the palate, backed by rather tight tannins that will need time to soften for ideal drinking. Still firm and lip-smacking in the finish, echoing more dark fruit. Best from 2030.