1988 | Silver Oak Cellars | Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

A true benchmark, the Silver Oak Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon every year is a glorious rendering of the flavors and textures that have made Napa Valley the epicenter of American winemaking. Ultra-classic notes of cassis and blackberry are the wine’s calling cards, rendered with the opulent, pulpy ripeness characteristic of Napa and burnished by heady suggestions of tobacco and spice. These warm flavors are woven into a fine, intricate structure with palpable density. Tannins are beefy, but fine-grained, sweet in their chewiness. Polished and buffed to be drinkable upon the release, the wine’s concentration and brawny structure give it the musculature to age for decades.

Reviews:

• John Gilman: A lone bottle in my cellar to track, the ’88 Silver Oak 'Napa' bottling showed significantly better at age nineteen than I would have ever imagined. If I had known it was going to turn out this delicious with extended bottle age, I would have cellared a case, rather than just a single bottle. The nose is deep, very pure, and shows none of the signs of excessive weediness that plagued this bottling from Silver Oak in many vintages. The very classy bouquet is a blend of pure black cherries, woodsmoke, Rutherford dust, a touch of lead pencil, delicate notes of wood spice and a distinct topnote of violet. On the palate the wine is medium-full, refined and still retains a nice 'cool' touch of austerity that lends precision in the mid-palate, with good depth, just a touch of tannin still remaining, and good length and grip on the complex finish.

• James Suckling: Round in texture, with tightly wrapped cherry, tobacco and anise flavors extending into a long finish, hinting at toast and spice. Has more substance than most '88s

Producer Information

Silver Oak Cellars is a Californian wine producer known for its wines made from Cabernet Sauvignon. It was founded to focus on that grape variety in 1972 by entrepreneur Raymond Twomey Duncan and winemaker Justin Meyer, and makes two key wines – one in the Sonoma AVA of Alexander Valley, and the other in Napa Valley. Both wines are prized for their combination of richness and ability to age. The Alexander Valley wine is varietal, and sees a mix of new and one-year-old American oak. The sibling is labeled Napa Valley and, depending on the vintage, Merlot and small amounts of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot may contribute 10-15 percent of the blend. It is usually weightier than the Alexander Valley wine, aged in 100-percent new American oak, and has a higher price tag. Until the 1990s a Bonny's Vineyard cuvée was also made. Each wine has its own dedicated winery, one in the Alexander Valley and one at Oakville. Silver Oak owns three vineyards in each appellation with a variety of terroirs, and grapes are also bought from partner growers. Silver Oak also owns its own cooperage. Wines undergo an initial blending – according to the vineyard source – into lots, which are then aged separately for a year before being re-tasted. After this the two final blends are made. In all, the wines see around 24 months in barrel before bottling, and are then held by the winery for 18 months to allow recovery from bottle shock and to increase drinkability on release.

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