The Early Years

Friends with a bold vision

Silver Oak was founded by Ray Duncan in partnership with friend and winemaker Justin Meyer in 1972. Together, they made the unconventional choice to focus exclusively on Cabernet Sauvignon, producing complex, delicious wines that were drinkable upon release and could be cellared for years to come.

The Early Years

Silver Oak has always been owned by the Duncan family

Today, Ray’s sons, David and Tim, manage Silver Oak and Twomey Cellars and continue the 40-year tradition of producing excellent, handcrafted wines. Pictured: Mike, Kevin, Ray, David and Tim Duncan.

The Early Years

The iconic water tower

A prominent agricultural landmark throughout Napa Valley, the water tower is featured on our Silver Oak label and has come to symbolize the legacy of Silver Oak. For the 1972 vintage, Ray and Justin commissioned a local artist to design a label with the tower set against a vineyard and a sprawling oak tree – and it has graced every bottle of Silver Oak ever produced.

From Cult to Classic

All about the experience

Our mission in making Cabernets is disarmingly simple: to make delicious wines that people love. Whether you’re just beginning to explore wine or have a well-developed palate, the first question to ask is, “Does it taste good?” While wine reviews can help put words to the wine drinking experience, the best judge of a wine’s character and complexity is the person drinking it. This approach has served us well and Silver Oak wines have developed a fantastic following. Hear what our loyal fans have to say about our wines and chime in with your own opinion.

From Cult to Classic

A new winemaker:

In 1994, Daniel Baron was hired as Justin Meyer’s successor and worked by his side until he retired in 2001. At that time, Justin sold his share of Silver Oak to the Duncan family. Today, Daniel leads our winemaking teams for both Silver Oak and Twomey Cellars.

A New Beginning

The 2006 fire

A fire swept through our Napa Valley winery on February 2, 2006. “I didn’t know what ‘burned to the ground’ really meant until I saw the dairy barn reduced to ashes in front of me,” explains David Duncan. “A brave team of firefighters was able to save much of the winery, which filled our family with optimism. We’ve never spent much time on setbacks, so we turned our attention to the future – and an ambitious rebuild.”

A NEW BEGINNING

Introducing Chef Dominic Orsini

Our Cabernets have always been ideal for enjoying with food, so it was only natural that we hire a winery chef. Dominic Orsini joined the Silver Oak family in 2008, filling our newly built, state-of-the-art kitchen with flavorful dishes. He immediately set about planting herb and vegetable gardens, curing his own meats and even making his own cheeses. The handcrafted quality of Silver Oak wines is reflected in Chef Dominic’s appreciation of fresh, homegrown ingredients and wine country fare.

WINEMAKING

Selecting the fruit

While we source excellent fruit from our own vineyards across the Napa and Alexander Valleys (including Soda Canyon Ranch, pictured here), we maintain long-term relationships with top growers to ensure we have a range of high-caliber fruit from a wide geographic region. Having options allows us to blend only the best fruit and achieve just the right balance in our Cabernet Sauvignons.

WINEMAKING

Making the wine

Once grapes have been harvested and fermented, Winemaker Daniel Baron carefully selects only those that complement one another and enhance the final blend. By blending prior to barrel aging, we achieve a balance of the wine’s natural elements before they are influenced by oak. The blend is then extensively aged in American oak barrels, whose character complements our expressive, delicious wines.

Winemaking

Bottle aging – an exercise in patience

By aging our wine in the bottle prior to release, we’re able to achieve a full-bodied flavor with moderate alcohol. Ultimately, our approach creates Cabernet Sauvignons that are deliciously drinkable upon release, and perfect for pairing with food.

WINEMAKING

A partnership with A&K Cooperage

We’re serious about our barrels. The use of American oak has been the hallmark of our distinctive wines since our first vintage in 1972. By partnering with A&K Cooperage in 2000, we were able to secure a steady supply of barrels flavored to our specifications – a true labor of love. Once an oak tree has reached maturity (about 80 years old), the wood must be harvested, aged outside in the elements in Missouri (about two years), handcrafted into barrels and toasted to achieve just the right characteristics.

Winemaking

Details, details

When it comes to producing excellent wine, even the cork cannot escape our scrutiny. We are known for having one of the strictest sets of cork quality control procedures in the wine industry. Our certified “cork sniffers” blind test hundreds of 750 mL corks before we place an order. In an effort to apply the same rigor to our big bottle corks, Associate Winemaker Christiane Schleussner and a team of researchers from Cork Supply USA pioneered the use of the “dry soak” method for the first time in the US. This specialized method of testing was so successful that Christiane and her colleagues published a paper about it in the well-respected Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry.

WINEMAKING

The Duncan family looks toward the future

David says, “We are stewards of Silver Oak and plan to carry out the traditions of the generation before us. We are always trying to improve quality and build on our 40 years of experience. Like Ray and Justin have always said, ‘we have yet to make our best bottle of wine.’”