2020 Timeless Proprietary Red Napa Valley
A marriage of fruit from our brightest blocks, this wine has flavors of red raspberry, licorice and notes of fresh flowers kissed by a warm summer sun. There is a silky texture on the palate that unfolds with plushness and balanced weight, and the lingering finish is accentuated with a vibrant blackberry return. Well-integrated and nuanced, this wine is the personification of determination and beauty.
There are few wineries in California that embody the pioneering spirit of Napa Valley better than Silver Oak. Founded in 1972, Ray Duncan went all-in with Cabernet Sauvignon early in the game, and the rest, as they say, is history. This mighty oak's roots run deep, and have helped this family-owned winery stand tall and strong amidst Napa's constant winds of change. While many wineries with Silver Oak’s track record and sales volume are content to rest on their laurels and coast, this Oakville institution is relentlessly pursuing perfection anew. They’re doing it primarily in the vineyard, modifying their vineyard practices to ensure that every grape is optimally ripe before it enters the winery. They even have a machine that rolls through the vineyard, scanning and measuring the diameter of emerging shoots in order to map vine vigor (and therefore determine irrigation and pruning needs). That’s pretty intense. The results speak for themselves.
Decanter
From the Duncan family of Silver Oak fame comes Timeless, a Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant proprietary blend crafted by winemaker Nate Weis with grapes from the Duncan's Soda Canyon Ranch Vineyard. The site is a 113-acre ranch in the estate in the benchlands of the Vaca Mountains just north of Napa. The blend is rounded out with Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot. In 2020, this wine offers a fragrant, bright, and lifted nose with lovely red and black currants, savoury sagebrush, tobacco, and dried red florals with blood orange. Medium-bodied with a gorgeous tapestry of crunchy red cranberry, plums, and cherry. Crushed stone mineral notes form a solid base from which baking notes of dark chocolate emerge. The tannins are persistent, building, and turn chalky as they resolve. This wine has plenty of acid grip and a beautiful, quiet intensity. It has excellent cellar potential.