2021 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley 750 ml

When we spoke with Silver Oak’s Matt Duncan and got on the topic of consistency, he invoked the wines that have inspired his family. “You don’t think about the vintage with the great estates of France,” he said, “and that’s the reputation we’ve aimed for.” 

It’s hard to argue that Silver Oak hasn’t earned it, and the more you learn about the estate, the more you realize that it’s got nothing to do with luck—and everything to do with their fanatical drive to get better every vintage.

Their commitment shows in their Alexander Valley winemaking facility, which turned out its first vintage in 2017. “In the wine business it’s rare for an established winery to be able to build a cellar for one wine. Sure, you renovate, you improve, but you don’t start anew,” Matt told us. But Silver Oak had a unique opportunity, and they built a winery 100% dedicated to producing their Alexander Valley bottling. Not a drop of another wine has ever seen the inside of the place. 

The virtues and features of the new facility—which earned not just LEED Platinum Certification but is the first winery and largest structure to earn the Living Building Challenge certification—are too numerous to name, so we’ll detail one: their far-sighted water recycling system, which collects water used in the winery, purifies it via a membrane reactor, then pumps it back in so the team can use it again.  

It’s far more than an environmental feather in Silver Oak’s cap or a way to lower their water bill in always-too-dry California: It freed up two acres that would have been needed for a drain field—two acres of prime Alexander Valley land that are now planted to Cabernet Sauvignon. 

In the phenomenal 2021 vintage, this iconic winery rose to the occasion and put out one of their finest wines of all time. We are proud to bring it to you.