2022 SILVER Proprietary Red Blend

Perhaps the most elegant and beautiful wine of the vintage, it’s beautifully mineral driven and simultaneously fruit forward in the most enjoyably intense way. Dusty blue and black berries revel alongside the sweet spice and vanilla which highlight our mastery of coopering Haute Futai French oak. And while there’s only one percent of Marselan, a debut in Caldwell Vineyard, there’s a certain je ne sais qois that it adds to the other five varietals that somehow manages to further elevate what is an already heady and complex Bordeaux blend. This is a true powerhouse of a wine, with exceptional freshness and verve showcasing the highest expression of the vintage and our lineup of individual, clone-specific varietals.

Vines: Caldwell Vineyard blocks 15, 17, 3, 14, 8, and Kreuzer
Varietals:  41% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Cabernet Franc, 15% Syrah, 14% Merlot, 9% Malbec, 1% Marselan Drink Up:  2024 – 2044
Made: 198 cases

Silver the Back Story

 When John started out, back in 1981, Caldwell Vineyard was going to be just that… a vineyard. At the time, he didn’t see a reason to get into the winemaking game. But then he met one of our favorite Frenchmen… Philippe Melka. A winemaker of great regard, John took note when he began talking about the potential of making wine from these incredible clonal selections. Even in the early days, Caldwell Vineyard fruit caught the attention of some other great winemakers and brands around the valley and they were all making some pretty delicious wine. After a few conversations John decided he wanted to give Melka the chance to make a wine that represented the best possible proprietary blend of clones, varieties and blocks in a particular vintage, in a style that would emulate their favorites among the best First Growths in France.

 The first vintage of Silver was made by Philippe Melka in 1998. At the time, we just called it Caldwell. Then he wanted to make a world-class 100% Cabernet to get a sense of the purity and quality of the Cabernet Sauvignon clones we had. The custom bottle Joy created had a silver “C” cartouche on the front. When we released this second wine, she kept the bottle the same but decide to differentiate the two by giving the new wine a gold “C”. Because one was gold and one was silver, the names just stuck.