2019 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

Silver Oak is timeless. Always indulgent, always a perfect snapshot of the Valley, it’s a wine that has symbolized Napa Cabernet for 50 years now—and in the benchmark 2019 vintage, they made one of the greatest Cabernets in their storied history. 

Decanter has already declared it the finest Silver Oak they’ve ever tasted, crowning it with a 96-point rating. They noted how intensive experimentation and refinement in the cellar has pushed the winery to an even higher level. 

Silver Oak has helped drive American interest in fine wine since the 1970s—a fact that can explain their ascent but doesn’t scratch the surface of what has kept them at the top for 50 years. In fact, their impeccable quality seems to be on cruise control only because of a restless desire to improve.

The team’s replanting regimen stretches a quarter-century into the future, and in 2015 they acquired their own cooperage in Higbee, Missouri. That means every drop of Silver Oak Cabernet is aged in an American oak barrel that’s been in their control since it was raw lumber.

Their 2019 Napa Cabernet is everything you want Silver Oak to be, and the density of the palate is astounding: The wine fills the mouth, demanding full attention be paid to the palate’s bounty of fruit, florals, and spice. It’s another flawless, towering shot, straight over the center-field fence. 

“We have yet to make our best bottle of wine,” Silver Oak’s Matt Duncan often says. It’s his forward-looking family’s mantra, and it may be true—but it’s hard to imagine a better bottle than the 2019. This one’s headed for the pantheon.

• Fruit Intensity
• Oak Intensity
• Body
• Acidity
• Tannin

• ABV 14.80%
• 1 hour
• Now – 2045
• 77% Cabernet Sauvignon18% Merlot2% Cabernet Franc2% Petit Verdot1% Malbec
• Serving temperature – 60°
• Cork