Silver Oak was a vineyard I wanted to visit. I made a reservation but cancelled it when I discovered my wine partner preferred whites. It didn't feel right to drag her to try a bunch of reds. However, while at Chappellet some of the guys had said they went & it was great. Now, I first heard of Silver Oak from my (non-drinking) husband. He was on a business trip and at dinner they had ordered this wine and raved about it. So when he got back to Houston, he promptly went to specs and purchased a bottle for me to enjoy. And I did, eventually. I was salivating to think we were so close to the estate and I wouldn't get to go. But after Chappellet we literally had 30 more minutes before all the winery's closed. We were close, our driver was game and Joelle was game. So we got to go here for a walk-up tasting. Again a totally different experience than the other places.
I loved this day because of all the diversity of all the vineyards. Every experience was completely different. I learned quite a few things. But my two favorites that I learned about my pallet and it is that I like non-malo-lactic wines (which lends itself to whites if I am going to even like them) and that I enjoy the Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon made from Napa Valley grapes OVER those Cabernet made from Alexander Valley grapes. Don't get me wrong both wines are wonderful!!! But when it comes to buying a bottle, I opted for the Napa Valley Cab. I mean when you are already spending that much money on a bottle of wine, what's a few extra $10's to get the Napa Valley Cabernet? I wrote on the bag, do not enjoy till 2016, though my wine guide Stephen accused me of being impetuous and is certain I wont wait.
Regardless, if you come visit me in 2016, the occasion may be pretty special and we may just need to open that fine bottle of Silver Oak!
On another note, Stephen also gave me a free tasting for Twomey (in Healdsburg) it is also part of the Silver Oak family. So when I go back, I will definitely need to go try one of their wines. If you come visit me any time soon, we will be sure to go to Twomey.
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| On the way to Silver Oak, while I still had light, we drove by this golden vineyard and amongst the vines was the glorious Flag and symbol of our American freedom! I am not sure you can tell how large this flag is, but it was awesome and I had to capture it. |
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| This is the vineyard right outside Silver Oak. |
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| The entrance of Silver Oak. I love the stone building. |
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| When you walk through the grand doors, to the inside, this is what you see. |
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| To the left of the tasting bar is the alcove with the wine cellar. This place also had a gift shop. |
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| Details of the alcove with the wine cellar. |
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| Those are some large magnums of wine. |
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| This place was built for entertaining. This was a private tasting room. It was getting ready for a large crowd of people to come. |
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| Looking into the tasting bar and gift shop from the alcove. |
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| Gift shop. |
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| Yes- I did try some wine while I was here. And this is my wine of choice. The one I bought. |
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| From the stair I captured some ladies shopping and gabbing in the gift area. |
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| And from said stairs I ascended to see what was upstairs and discovered what appeared to be offices. I want to work here, if I could work in an office like this. |
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| Probably my favorite photo. Taken from the alcove. I love how you can see both the offices from upstairs as well as the wine tasting bar below. |
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| The logo on the bottle is the tower out front of the Winery. And they had a wood carving of the tower behind the wine tasting bar. It is amazing. |
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