2018 Radio Silence Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 750 ml

47 minutes. That’s how long the Apollo 11 astronauts went radio-silent when they sped around the dark side of the moon back in 1969, a few revolutions before they made their heralded landing. We hadn’t brought it up, but an octogenarian friend with whom we were sharing a glass of this 2018 Radio Silence Cabernet Sauvignon had mentioned it. He’d been working in a vineyard that day and remembered it vividly. 

“It was about 73 degrees, dipped down to maybe 55 at night. You won’t read about it anywhere because there weren’t any critics around to jot it all down, but 1969 was a cool year in Napa, with generous sunshine, and the wines turned out marvelous. I think about it now and again when a newer vintage takes me back there. It happened in 2016, and 2001, and before that, it was 1984. This one here,” he said, lifting his glass of Radio Silence to us. ”This is taking me back.”  

“This one here,” we chuckled to ourselves. This one here is one of the best wines we’ve ever had the privilege of making. There—we said it. If you’re not on the source winery’s list, you might find a bottle of their wine here or there in the world’s finest retail establishments or among the pages of the world’s greatest restaurant wine lists. 

At retail, you’d pay between $500-$1,500 (per bottle). But the surplus grapes we nabbed came at a comparable price to the previous vintage, and that allowed us to maintain last year’s Radio Silence pricing while delivering the pinnacle of quality and taste. 

The 2018 reveals aromas of blackcurrant, ripe plum, raspberry, violets, mocha, and lavishly expensive French oak and cedar, similar to wines that cost ten times the price. The first sip delivers bold blackberry and blueberry flavors, while the next reveals pie spices, licorice, and touches of damp earth as the wine glides across the palate. Tightly packed but super-fine tannins add an intricate and layered structure to this full-bodied Cabernet. 

This is a show-stopper, and the reason is quite simple. We would shout the source winery’s name from the mountaintops if it didn’t mean breaching our NDA and inviting the kind of fines that would force us to close the business. But, as always, there’s some leeway with what we can disclose.

Just scanning Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate for these wines, you can see they’ve amassed numerous 100-point scores for their flagship label. Simply put, it is an extraordinary estate with no shortage of ambition, leveraging hillside Oakville grapes farmed in remarkably low yields (by many of the same hands since its inception), with no fireworks displays in terms of fermentation and aging. Respectfully raised every step of the way and bottled without clarification, these wines offer a singular tasting experience—the very pinnacle of Napa Valley. And in 2018—a glorious, full vintage with a generous crop of monumental quality—we bought what little extra fruit this white whale was willing to give us.   

“Do you know what I was doing while those fellas were on the dark side of the moon?” our octogenarian friend asked us. “I made my way through a couple of glasses of ‘45 La Mission Haut Brion. Yeah, that’s right, put your eyes back in your head. I had one bottle, and it seemed like the right moment. That wine I’ll never forget, and I’m telling you, I like what you’ve done with these grapes. It’s bringing me back.”

If we told you who this stately, sagely man was, we’d have to… well, you know. We promised to bring him a bottle of the 2018 Radio Silence before we released it to you (to gain his seal of approval). It seems we did right by the estate’s reputation. There’s only one way to find out for yourself.