My wife and I were in Healdsburg for a winery event, and decided on a whim to head over to the Napa side for dinner. She had read about the new Silver Oak facility in Alexander Valley, so why not stop and check it out. I remember the old Alexander winery fondly, off 101 in Geyserville. We used to go there years ago, even took a Christmas picture with our young kids one year. It was fairly small and quaint, friendly, always had drinks for both adults and kids.
The new Alexander tasting facility isn’t exactly “small and quaint”, but it is quite elegant and tasteful, very open, with full length windows that make you feel you’re right in the vineyards. I kind of expected the tasting fee to be higher, so we were happy to pay $20 to share pours of three wines (plus they came around and asked what our favorite was, then poured a nice refill).
We tried the 2013 Alexander Valley Cabernet, which I found to be quite nice, with plenty of dark red fruit, fine structure, not overly ripe or overly oaked, a wine I’d be happy drink now and then. The 2013 (going from memory) Napa Cab was a bigger, deeper wine, came across a bit riper, with more noticeable oak notes. Pretty typical, quality mainstream Napa Cab, though a bit bigger and richer than my preferences. Even then, I’d much rather drink this than its competition Caymus (regular, or Special Select).
This thread, asking “which winery would you skip” got me to post on this
I know Silver Oak gets a lot of grief for being the popular steak house wine that us geeks like to rag on. But a) I have always enjoyed the bottles that friends have opened, and b) this was a very nice experience, with quality wines. Tasting room staff was friendly and knowledgeable. If someone has an interest in Silver Oak, and Napa Cab in general, I would encourage them to visit the new Alexander winery. There are tours available as well, which I assume venture into the winery itself. And, it’s a beautiful drive up 128 to the southern Alexander Valley.