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WINEMAKING TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT 28 WINES&VINES April 2018 W hile walking through the cellar of Silver Oak Cellars' new Alexander Valley winery filled with new stainless-steel tanks, most of which are fitted with an independent pump-over system and designed to never be used more than once per vintage, one has to stop and ask: "Is this all just for Cabernet?" "We only make the Alexander Cab here," says the win- ery's president and CEO David Duncan. "That's it." While on a footbridge spanning the spacious crush pad that has the room and equipment to hoist large gondola bins from trucks and yet is still covered from the weather, one double checks. "No other winemaking for other brands was consolidated here at the new winery?" The answer again is no, it's just for the Alexander Valley Cabernet program. Standing in front of the brand new Bertolaso bottling line from Italy, one still wonders if maybe it will be used for other wineries owned by the Duncan family, such as Twomey, or for custom bottling for other wineries, perhaps just in the short term to help pay off the initial investment. But nope, it's just for Silver Oak's Alexander Valley Cab- ernet Sauvignon. After strolling through the spacious barrel rooms, in which brand-new American oak barrels from the winery's cooperage in Missouri are getting unpacked by cellar work- ers, it seems logical to ask, again, about custom crush, because the winery has the space and resources for it. "We don't do any custom crush or anything like that. We just make our wine," Duncan says. All that space and then some. The winery was designed to support the future growth of Silver Oak's Alexander Val- ley Cabernet program. "We did make it able to grow by about 30%." From the tour Duncan gave Wines & Vines in January, as construction finished on the estate tasting room, it is readily apparent the winery has ample space for growth. That space will be needed, as the new winery is nestled in a 113-acre estate, of which 75 acres are planted to Cabernet Sauvignon. The Duncans also recently purchased the 35- acre Crazy Creek vineyard nearby and the Big River vine- yard, where the Alexander Valley AVA overlaps with the Russian River Valley. Silver Oak purchased the property for the new winery in 2011 and finished the facility in time to crush grapes from the 2017 vintage. Permitted for 120,000 cases, Duncan said the winery will likely produce around 75,000 to 80,000 cases of wine in 2018. "We can grow here, but that will take us a number of years." Duncan said the new winery was designed and built to provide the same level of quality that Silver Oak's many customers and distributors expect. The winery produces around 100,000 cases of wine per year, and only about a quarter of that is sold direct to consumer, with wholesale distribution split around 70% on-premise and 30% off- premise accounts. Duncan said DtC sales continue to grow and are a key part of Silver Oak's future, but expanding production has enabled the winery to maintain solid dis- tributor relationships. While Silver Oak and the emblematic water tower of its Oakville estate that shows prominently on the label may be best known as a Napa Valley Cabernet to many consum- Silver Oak Cellars' Alexander Valley Winery Building on a long history in Sonoma County, the Cabernet specialist's new winery is a sleek, sizable and sustainable investment in the future By Andrew Adams TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT DAMION HAMILTON