2021 Silver Oak Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Silver Oak’s 2021 Napa Valley Cabernet might well be one of the finest wines they’ve produced. Compact and beautifully poised, it marries generosity of fruit with a firm structural frame and focused aromatics. A panoply of blackberry and warm spice—smoked paprika, cinnamon, tobacco—lifts from the glass, interwoven with black truffle and loamy earth. Full-bodied, with a solid foundation of lengthy tannins buttressing the wine, it’s carried by a firm spine of juicy acidity. Rich oak spices are balanced by graphite minerality, a potpourri of dried flowers, and a chalky-earth finish that lingers. This is undoubtedly set to be one of Silver Oak’s longest-lived wines: ripe and generous enough to enjoy young, yet built on a sturdy foundation that will reward long-term cellaring. 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot, 3% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Malbec are blended before barreling down for 24 months in American oak, of which 85% was new, 15% was once-used, and aged 20 additional months in bottle before release. (JC)