Silver Oak is located in the heart of the valley just east of Oakville and has been a staple in Napa Valley since 1972. Founded by Ray Twomey Duncan and Justin Meyer, the winery started as a small production winery only producing 1,000 cases but now their wine can be found at a majority of supermarkets, fine wine stores and almost every collectors cellar. But in 2006 disaster struck and a fire destroyed the entire Oakville After the fire in 2006 they would rebuild and design a top-notch state-of-the-art winery.

We ended up doing the bar tasting at Silver Oak but it was still a great experience. Cabernet Sauvignon is the only thing on the menu, and boy does it not disappoint. The flight is a vertical tasting allowing you to taste through some of the vintages from the past as well as the current release.

For our tasting we tried the 2006, 2011 and the 2012 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. One of the cool things about this tasting is the 2006 Cabernet was considered the fire vintage as it was in barrel and only a few barrels were saved and produced. These wines are only included for tastings at the vineyard until they run out of this small production of wine. All of the wines were great but the standouts were the 2012 and of course the 2006. Notes of truffle, violets, black berries, baking spices and vanilla with smooth tannins and a nice balance.