2021 SILVER Proprietary Red Blend

A head-spinning tapestry of six different clone-specific grape varieties from our own estate makes this year’s Silver another kind of delicious. Not just a sensationally complex vixen of a wine, this brooding beauty offers ridiculously heady aromatics. Deep, dark fruits are highlighted by a hint of cola and camphor that offer a plethora of playfulness and a counterweight to the intensity of fruit and structure.

Silver was the first wine ever crafted at Caldwell. John called upon Philippe Melka (the original Frenchman and rising star winemaker at the time) to satiate his yearning for a single wine that represented the absolute best blend from the entire vineyard – and all 28 clone-specific varieties that grow here – in a particular year. Trial and error over a few decades have taught us a thing or two, and the hard-won results of that work have come shining through in this vintage. A hot, ripe year gave us the chance to play with less Syrah and more Cabernet Franc, lending flavors that frolic alongside delicious oak and fruit tannins to showcase the pure power of the 2021 vintage. The result offers unrivaled prowess for aging.

Composition: 39% Cabernet Franc, 27% Syrah, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot, 6% Malbec, 3% Petit Verdot

Appellation: Coombsville, Napa Valley, CA

Vineyard: Caldwell Vineyard, Kreuzer Vineyard

Vineyard Blocks: Caldwell 15, 17, 3, 14, 8, and Kreuzer

Clones: 337, 15, 214, 332, 312, 595, 1, 3, Estrella, 470

Oak: Caldwell Cooperage, Jupilles, Bercé

Aged: 22 months; 100% French oak, 75% new

Drink: 2 - 22 years

Made: 185 cases