Silverado SOLO Cabernet Sauvignon 2012
-
Wilfred
Wong -
James
Suckling -
Wine
Enthusiast - Decanter
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The 2012 vintage was pure joy. The growing season was moderate with spring and summer being warm, but not challenged with heat spikes. The vines looked full and balanced which fooled most growers and winemakers. As soon as we started to pick, we realized this was going to be a monumentally large harvest. With the continuing moderate weather, we let the fruit mature at an even pace. After the first few pump-overs of fresh wine, we knew that this was going to be a special vintage. The fruit was not overripe, but entirely mature: skins, seeds and pulp. This resulted in a wine that is dark in color, round, and powerful. It has bright berry and herb aromas, a dense mid-palate with good structure, and a long finish that encapsulates the essence of barrel and delicious blue and red fruit.
Professional Ratings
-
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
One of the richest and prettiest Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignons that I have tasted in a decade, the substantial 2012 Silverado Vineyards Solo shows generous black fruit, a packed palate, some oak, and a long finish. Pair this rewarding wine with a big, juicy Porterhouse. (Tasted: February 9, 2017, San Francisco, CA)
-
James Suckling
Black currants, blackberries, flowers and blueberries on the nose and palate. Full body. Very fine tannins and fresh character. Better in 2018.
-
Wine Enthusiast
This is the winery’s reserve-level 100% Cab, given the utmost care and attention. It opens shyly in cedar and blackberry before offering a luscious palate of tangy leather, dry, firm tannins and a peppery finish. From grapes designated as their own Heritage Clone, UCD 30, it beautifully expresses the appellation and should cellar well through 2020. Cellar Selection.
-
Decanter
Suave, supple and brimming with bright black cherry and cassis. Decadent and ripe yet not over the top.
Other Vintages
2018-
Tasting
Panel
-
Wine
Spectator -
James
Suckling -
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Wilfred
Wong -
James
Suckling - Decanter
-
Tasting
Panel -
Wilfred
Wong -
Wine
Spectator - Decanter
- Decanter
-
Wilfred
Wong -
James
Suckling -
Wine &
Spirits
-
Wine &
Spirits -
Wilfred
Wong -
James
Suckling - Decanter
-
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Wilfred
Wong -
Robert
Parker
-
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
James
Suckling
-
Robert
Parker -
James
Suckling
-
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Enthusiast
Nestled in the hills on the North West side of the Stags Leap District, Silverado Vineyards Winery has been a favorite wine country destination and home to some of the Napa Valley’s most-recognized wines for almost forty years. In 1981, Ron and Diane Disney Miller and her mother, Lillian Disney, established Silverado Vineyards to make wines from the historic sites of the estate the family owns. The winery was named in honor of the Silverado Vineyard, one of the first four in Stags Leap District to plant Cabernet in the 1960s. The vineyard pays homage to the abandoned mining town at the top of the Valley which also inspired the name of the famous Silverado Trail where Silverado Vineyards and other iconic wineries of the Stags Leap District are situated. Silverado Vineyards owns five other storied vineyards across Napa Valley’s top AVAs: Miller Ranch, Mt. George, Soda Creek Ranch (Borreo), Firetree, and Vineburg. All of Silverado’s wines are estate-grown, produced and bottled. Winemaker Jon Emmerich is only the second lead winemaker in the history of Silverado Vineyards and celebrated his 30th vintage with the winery in 2020. Jon has grown Silverado’s reputation for quality and consistency along with his colleague Elena Franceschi, who has been Silverado’s associate winemaker for nearly 25 years. When Diane Miller passed away in 2013, Ron Miller became president of the Board of Directors of The Walt Disney Family Museum, and chairman of Silverado Vineyards until his passing in 2019. Diane and Ron’s children and grandchildren proudly continue to carry their family’s legacy forward as the owners of Silverado Vineyards.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
Legend has it that quick and nimble stags would escape the indigenous hunters of southern Napa Valley through the landmark palisades that sit just northeast of the current city of Napa. As a result, the area was given the name, Stags Leap. While its grape-growing history dates back to the mid-1800s, winemaking didn’t really take off until the mid-1970s after a small but pivotal blind tasting called the Judgement of Paris.
When a 1973 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon won first place against its high-profile Bordeaux contenders, like Chateau Mouton Rothschild and Chateau Haut-Brion, international attention to the Stags Leap District of Napa Valley escalated rapidly.
The vineyards in this one-of-a-kind wine growing region receive hot afternoon air reflecting off of its eastern palisade formation. In combination with the cool evening breezes from the San Pablo Bay just south, this becomes an optimal environment for grape growing. While many varieties could thrive here, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot dominate with virtually no others, save for a spot or two of Syrah.
Stags Leap soils—eroded volcanic and old river sediments—encourage well established root systems and result in complex, terroir-driven wines. Stags Leap District reds have a distinct sour cherry and black berry character with baking spice and dried earth aromas, and supple tannins.