2020 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 750 ml

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 2020 Napa Cabernet is everything you want Silver Oak to be. It leads with a mix of heady blackcurrant aromas, with ripe plum, graphite, cigar box, and vanilla. It’s broad and commanding on the palate, with polished tannins carrying waves of dark chocolate, mulberry preserves, and spiced cedar. As always, it’s built for the long haul but irresistible now. 

“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 every year, we see less and less room for improvement.