What Goes Into a Bottle Of Napa Valley Cabernet?
Napa Valley is globally acclaimed as a capital of Cabernet—and for good reason. The Napa Valley’s visual splendor is just the beginning. This counts for something in wine, as wine quality and scenic allure often go together. Here, this compact 30-mile vinous paradise is classically framed by two steep, opposing mountainsides—ideal for high-end wine production.
Factor in its other rare attributes—diverse, well-draining soils, kaleidoscopic exposures, and ideal Mediterranean grape-growing climate—and it’s easy to see why Napa Valley Cabernets are America’s most treasured wines. Compared to vast, sprawling wine regions like Bordeaux, with six times the planted vineyard acreage, Napa Valley has precious little land to go around.
That Silver Oak Napa Valley sources nearly 70% of our fruit from estate mountain and hillside vineyards, is just one factor in the larger equation of producing world-class Cabernet Sauvignon. The rest involves an obsessive attention to detail and a fanatical commitment to quality from many helping hands along the journey from grape-to-glass.
Our tremendously talented team, hailing from around the world, has been together for years. Experience, familiarity and consistency with one’s vineyards are underrated factors in fine winemaking. We watch fermentations and extractions closely to achieve the perfect balance between flavor and structure, texture and power.
Nate Weis, Former Winemaker
Farming our own vineyards is the only way to ensure fruit quality of the highest level. Nate Weis led a team of the most accomplished vineyardists, and empowered them with leading-edge technologies to farm with incredible precision in a way that’s both good for the environment (i.e. not wasting water or energy) and produces grapes worthy of becoming Silver Oak Napa Valley Cabernet.
Incomparable fruit is the top requirement for making great wine. Owning our vineyards also means they can dial-in the crucial moment of harvest, vineyard by vineyard, plot by plot, allowing us to bring ripe Cabernet grapes to the winery in perfect condition.
Our team closely oversee Silver Oak Cabernet every step of the way to achieve the perfect balance between flavor and structure, texture and power. After harvest and fermentation follows a slow and quiet barrel-aging process, but procuring the best oak and matching it precisely to our style of Cabernet Sauvignon is an art unto itself. For that reason, Silver Oak is one of the very few wineries in the world to own our own barrel making cooperage (in Missouri), ensuring an uninterrupted supply of the best and most perfectly tailored oak.
When Silver Oak is released after over four years in barrel and bottle, we expect it to drink well both right away and after extended cellaring. In previous eras of California winemaking, these were thought to be mutually exclusive propositions, but with the right resources, dedication and care, our aim is to craft wines of distinction that age with grace and complexity. That’s what we do—and what goes into a glass of Silver Oak Napa Valley Cabernet.