“Given Miner’s winemaking history in Napa Valley, the excellence of his wines should come as no surprise.” – Wine Spectator

ORACLE, BABY!

More like a miracle though. Seeing this $180 pinnacle of their production at this price?? It’s no mirage, or even a miracle. Just what we do on the daily around headquarters. Making MAGIC happen!

Reminds us of some of our greatest hits ever, like Chimney Rock’s Elevage or Clos Pegase’s Hommage. Such flagships with INSANE pricing that strained our servers with overwhelming demand. Mind you, the library price of $180 is worthy for what you get here. Our price is pure DEBAUCHERY.

100% Stagecoach Vineyard. Yep, that infamous site sandwiched between Pritchard Hill and Atlas Peak. The one you where many a $250+ cult Cab was born. Just look to Alpha Omega, Pott, The Debate, Paul Hobbs, Mark Herold…the list goes on.

With Cabernet Sauvignon always driving the blend (55% in 2014), the Oracle adapts to each vintage. Varying proportions of Cabernet Franc (19%), Merlot (19%), Petit Verdot, and Malbec (3%) join in one fine-tuned example showcasing the best representation of this rugged mountain source. Vinified at the Oakville home base, with about 2/3 seeing the best new French barrels money can buy for just about two years in oak.

Named to celebrate the family’s legacy of a ‘small’ conglomerate you may have heard of. Before Oracle, Dave Miner’s uncle owned the famous Oakville Ranch, and sadly passed away at a young age. But before he left, he asked Dave to take over. Oakville Ranch owned the property that Miner is on and was using it as a custom crush. When Dave took over, he decided to go all in on Miner Family and transformed it into a state-of-the-art winery that remains a fixture today on the Silverado Trail.

Crafted by master winemaker Gary Brookman at the helm here from 1997 through his retirement in 2022, who also took over Grace Family Vineyards from Heidi Barrett from 2001 through 2014. With his own Brookman project, Gary is one of those lesser-known cult winemakers whose longer stints produced many blue-chip quality wines, year in year out.

Such reliable winemaking, from a family-owned winery, has been cellared perfectly in their impeccable caves for a decade. And now it’s released into the wild, heading to your doorstep for the remainder of its (long) life.

While the press almost completely skipped this beauty back in the day, with just one ‘outstanding’ Wine Spectator from six years ago claiming it showed “a bit more weight than purity but will have fans for sure” that time proved WRONG, as it’s impossible not to fall in love with the way it drinks today. More accurately, 98 Points from Sunset International as a Best of Class winner, it’s echoed by the last score it has from a couple of months ago on CellarTracker: a solid 97 points. We’d say that’s spot on, but you decide!

We don’t need a crystal ball or a truth sayer to know one thing though. This beauty won’t last the day.