1994 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

Community Tasting Notes (82) Avg Score: 91.1 points

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  2/17/2024 - JC597 Likes this wine: 89 Points

  This bottle had been meticulously stored before I bought it at auction. Cork was fully intact and well-preserved. Unfortunately, this wine - in 750ml format, at least - has simply reached the end of its drinkable life. With that being said, it still has some upside for those who enjoy experiencing and comparing aged Cali cabs from the 90’s. Some bricking around the edges. Nose was pleasant, with slight floral notes and mild vanilla. Sweet, somewhat tart entry (my wife disagreed with my take on the tartness). Not a very long finish. Tannins are all but gone. Fruit emerged more after an hour passed - raspberry/strawberry preserves blunted by old oak essence. Decanted with quite a bit of fine sediment remaining in bottle. Drink now or forever hold your peace. Compared to a glass of ‘92 Beringer Private Reserve I had several months ago, the ‘94 Silver Oak is likely 5 years past what most would consider to be the end of its prime. I have a ‘97 SO Napa and ‘07 SO Napa from the same auction and am interested to compare those two to the ‘94 effort at this point in time.

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  12/31/2022 - vinopunk Likes this wine: 92 Points

  One of the better high-end California cabs I've had. Better than the only other Silver Oak I've tried, which was a 2003.

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  2/5/2022 - jta@cyprs.com Likes this wine: 95 Points

  Inadvertently found the bottle in a bin with younger wines. I was stunned by how fresh the Napa was. The color was deep garnet and there were no orange tints. Classic Silver Oak nose with lots of dark fruit, including blackberries and currents, that matched the oak well. The taste on the open was equally fresh and young with soft tannins. An hour later, it is still a joy to drink.

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  10/6/2021 - rocknroller wrote: 91 Points

  Medium dark red color. PNP, followed a glass over 3 hours and then revisited later. What a long strange trip this was. Boy was this wonky to start. It smelled old and tired, rather stewy and vegetal with those old wine notes and brown sugar on the nose and had me wondering if it was heat damaged or just dead. It was nothing you wanted to be smelling anyway. The palate seemed fair to start, the fruit came off more as baked red fruits and soft tannins with not a lot else but some wood notes. We just let it sit in glass for the next 2+ hours. Slowly, very slowly, I kept saying it’s getting a little better. It really wasn’t until we were packing up about 3 hours later that it began to show a purity to the fruit and an elegance that was nowhere to be found before. So I vac’d it and said, we’ll see what it’s like tomorrow I guess. It was a solid 90pt wine at that point, though I thought I might be delusional. Although, all three of us had the same opinion. It was 48 hours later before I got a chance to try it again. It was really in fine shape, just a remarkable 180 degree about face from where it started.
  
  Crushed savory spices, dried wood and cherry on the nose. The palate is quite tangy, red cherries, dried earth, cigar and subtle eucalyptus on a medium bodied framework with fairly resolved tannins. Not extraordinarily complex, but really quite nice in the end. Not the first time this has happened, but dramatic nonetheless. Always give these old wines a chance to come around. You may be thoroughly surprised and duly rewarded for your patience. 90+ to 91pts.

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  12/25/2020 - Dapenalaw@aol.com wrote: 81 Points

  Allowed to breathe for 2.5 hours. Needed one more hour. Preserved well.

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