Silver Oak Cellars

Ray Twomey Duncan, a Colorado entrepreneur who began investing in California vineyards in the late 1960s, purchased his first land in Sonoma County's Alexander Valley in 1970, in partnership with Jack Novak: 100 acres called Los Amigos Vineyard. By 1972 he had purchased a 258-acre dairy barn property in Oakville, and he offered winemaker Justin Meyer, who had left the Christian Brothers monastery, a partnership in which both men would have equal ownership and Meyer would oversee winemaking. The two co-founded Silver Oak in 1972 with one bold idea: focus on one varietal, Cabernet Sauvignon, aged exclusively in American oak. The winery was originally called Duncan-Meyer; Bonny, whom Meyer married in 1972, suggested the name Silver Oak, after the dairy barn's location halfway between Oakville and the Silverado Trail.

• The first vintage (1972) was bottled in 1975 and released on January 1, 1977, and through the 1974 vintage the wine was crushed and fermented at Christian Brothers Winery
• The first North Coast vintage was released in 1977 at $6 a bottle
• The first Napa Valley vintage was 1979
• Release Day began in 1977, with customers lining the driveway for the latest release; the Napa Valley release is held on the first Saturday in February and the Alexander Valley release on the first Saturday in August

Silver Oak opened a winery in Geyserville in 1992, when it needed to split Napa Valley and Alexander Valley production. Meyer selected Daniel Baron to succeed him as winemaker in 1994, and in 2001 Meyer retired, selling his share of Silver Oak to the Duncan family. Ray Duncan's youngest son, David, joined Silver Oak in 2002. Nate Weis was hired as the third winemaker in 2014 and worked alongside Baron until Baron's retirement in 2016, and Laura Oskwarek became the fourth winemaker in 2025. Silver Oak credits these overlapping tenures with ensuring consistency and quality control.

• In April 2025 Silver Oak named Jared Fix, previously CEO of the shoe company Toms, as CEO, with David Duncan moving into an executive chairman role
• Laura Oskwarek was promoted to director of winemaking, replacing Nate Weis, who had left that March to join Beaulieu Vineyard
• The leadership team comprises David R. Duncan (Proprietor and Executive Chairman), Tim Duncan (Proprietor and Chief Revenue Officer), Jared Fix (Chief Executive Officer), Tony LeBlanc (President), Justin Hirigoyen (Vice President of Winegrowing), Laura Oskwarek (Director of Winemaking) and Dan Kemp (Winemaker, Alexander Valley)
• Weis made the wines from the 2014 vintage, overseeing production of over 100,000 cases of Cabernet Sauvignon annually

Silver Oak farms more than 400 acres of vines across 19 estate vineyards in Napa Valley and Alexander Valley. Soda Canyon Ranch, purchased in 1999, is its most important Napa Valley vineyard, planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot on volcanic soils; it is the backbone of the Napa Valley Cabernet. Jump Rock Vineyard sits at an elevation of 1,500 feet in the Atlas Peak AVA, with less than half of the property planted. In Alexander Valley, the estate vineyards include Miraval Vineyard (purchased 1987), Red Tail Vineyard (purchased 1988), the Alexander Valley Estate Vineyard surrounding the winery (acquired 2012), Crazy Creek Vineyard (acquired by the Duncan family in 2016) and Big River Vineyard (acquired 2017).

• Red Tail Vineyard, named for the red-tailed hawks that circle over the property, was replanted with Cabernet Sauvignon in three sections in 1996, 2000 and 2003
• The Alexander Valley Estate Vineyard was first granted to Captain Henry Fitch in 1843 and was completely replanted in 2012, 2013 and 2014
• Crazy Creek Vineyard is the site of an in-depth clonal trial examining five different Cabernet Sauvignon clones
• Big River Vineyard was replanted to Cabernet Sauvignon and three acres of Petit Verdot after its acquisition

Silver Oak blends its wine lots before barrel aging, a practice former winemaker Daniel Baron called "marriage in a barrel" and one that, in the winery's words, distinguishes Silver Oak from most California Cabernets. Blending trials start in December and occasionally last over six weeks. The blended wine then ages in American oak barrels from the winery's own cooperage, The Oak: the 2021 Napa Valley and 2022 Alexander Valley Cabernets each aged for 24 months in barrel. The wines get nearly five years of maturation in barrel and bottle, and Silver Oak says it cellars its bottled wines longer than almost any other California winery.

• Silver Oak says it became the first winery to own and operate an American oak cooperage when it fully acquired The Oak, in Higbee, Missouri, in 2015; the cooperage is overseen by Master Cooper Daniel Orton
• Staves are air-dried for 24 months, and Silver Oak barrels receive a medium light toast that takes approximately 40 minutes
• Former Alexander Valley winemaker Christiane Schleussner pioneered the dry soak method for corks with a team of researchers from Cork Supply USA
• Silver Oak says its wines are capable of extended aging for 25 years and beyond

A fire in 2006 destroyed the original Oakville winery; Silver Oak re-imagined it on the same grounds as the dairy barn where the first vintage was made, completing the new winery in 2008. The Alexander Valley winery in Healdsburg, completed in 2018, has accommodations tailored to the production of the Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Silver Oak describes its Napa Valley Cabernet as marked by density and complexity, with lush fruits and warm, earthy spice, and its Alexander Valley Cabernet as more silken and lithe, with brighter berry fruit and high-toned spice.

• Stone for the rebuilt Oakville winery was reclaimed from an old flour mill in Coffeyville, Kansas
• The Oakville winery is at 915 Oakville Cross Rd, Oakville; the Alexander Valley winery is at 7300 California 128, Healdsburg
• The Oakville winery's 1,464 solar panels produce nearly half of its energy needs; in Alexander Valley, 2,595 solar panels generate more energy (105%) than the winery consumes
• When it was certified in 2020, the Alexander Valley winery was one of only 26 buildings on the planet with Living Building certification

After a half century of making only Cabernet Sauvignon, Silver Oak's current releases (September 2026) include the 2021 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Malbec; 14.8% alcohol) and the 2022 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot and 1% Merlot; 14.6% alcohol). The 2025 Silver Oak Sauvignon Blanc, from 57% Napa County and 43% Sonoma County fruit, is Silver Oak's inaugural Sauvignon Blanc. The Duncan family's brands also include Twomey, OVID Napa Valley and Timeless Napa Valley.

• Twomey produces nine small production Pinot Noir wines and an estate Sauvignon Blanc, with a winery and tasting room near where it farms in Russian River Valley; the Duncan family started Twomey in 1999
• OVID Napa Valley is an organically farmed, 15-acre vineyard at 1,400 ft. elevation in the western reaches of Pritchard Hill in Napa Valley
• Timeless Napa Valley, a tribute to co-founder Ray Duncan, is a single vineyard expression of Soda Canyon Ranch made by Laura Oskwarek

Primary sources (producer's own site): https://silveroak.com/, https://silveroak.com/pages/our-story, https://silveroak.com/pages/history, https://silveroak.com/pages/history-chapter-2, https://silveroak.com/pages/history-chapter-3, https://silveroak.com/pages/history-chapter-4, https://silveroak.com/pages/history-chapter-5, https://silveroak.com/pages/about, https://silveroak.com/pages/team, https://silveroak.com/pages/vineyards, https://silveroak.com/pages/grapegrowing, https://silveroak.com/pages/winemaking, https://silveroak.com/pages/american-oak, https://silveroak.com/pages/sustainability, https://silveroak.com/pages/visit-napa-valley, https://silveroak.com/pages/visit-alexander-valley, https://silveroak.com/pages/family-of-brands, https://silveroak.com/collections/silver-oak-wine, https://silveroak.com/products/2022-alexander-valley-cabernet-sauvignon-750ml, https://silveroak.com/products/2025-silver-oak-sauvignon-blanc, https://silveroak.com/products/2021-napa-valley-cabernet-sauvignon-750ml. Secondary sources: https://www.napawineproject.com/silver-oak-cellars/, https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/wine/article/silver-oak-ceo-jared-fix-20277821.php, https://www.winespectator.com/articles/nate-weis-takes-over-at-beaulieu. Last verified 2026-10-12. Where the producer's site and a secondary source disagree, the producer's site governs.