For over 50 years, quality has been the essence of Silver Oak.

They have few peers when it comes to their obsession with delivering top-tier wines. That’s why, even among the many iconic and influential California Cabs, Silver Oak’s two Cabernet Sauvignons—the only wines they produce—stand out. Their Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon have long been staples on steakhouse wine lists and favorites of expense-account diners. 

Silver Oak began over a handshake between two friends with a bold vision: focus only on Cabernet Sauvignon, aged exclusively in American oak and worthy of cellaring for decades to come. The farsighted founders—Ray Twomey Duncan, a Colorado entrepreneur who began investing in California vineyards in the late 1960s, and Justin Meyer, a Christian Brothers–trained winemaker—initially ran the winery from a Napa Valley dairy barn in 1972, producing only 1,000 cases of their inaugural vintage. 

Over the next two decades, Silver Oak grew in popularity. Their Cabernets sold quickly upon release and became highly sought-after nationwide.  

Silver Oak’s Matt Duncan, grandson of the founder, invokes the great Old World wines when discussing the consistency for which his family’s winery is known. “You don’t think about the vintage with the great estates of France,” he said, “and that’s the reputation we’ve aimed for.”

Their commitment shows in their winemaking facilities. In 2006, a fire destroyed their historic Oakville winery. While rebuilding was a difficult and emotional event, the opportunity to design a new, state-of-the-art winery from the ground up has resulted in better Napa Valley Cabernets and minimized their environmental footprint. Ten years later, Silver Oak Napa Valley was designated the world’s first LEED Platinum winery for existing buildings, operations, and maintenance.  

Next, when it came time to reimagine the Silver Oak Alexander Valley winery, they set an even higher bar. The virtues and features of the facility—which earned not just LEED Platinum Certification but was also the first winery and largest structure to earn the Living Building Challenge certification—are too numerous to name, but here’s a crucial one: Their water-recycling system, which collects water used in the winery, purifies it via a membrane reactor and then pumps it back in so the team can use it again.  

It was 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—prime Alexander Valley land that is now planted to Cabernet Sauvignon. 

It’s that commitment to improvement that informs what Duncan always says about Silver Oak: “We have yet to make our best bottle of wine.”