Screaming Eagle Wine

Screaming Eagle: Napa Valley's Original Cult Cabernet

Screaming Eagle is widely considered the original Napa Valley cult wine, a tiny Oakville estate whose scarcity and critical acclaim have made it one of the most sought-after names in American Cabernet Sauvignon. Produced in quantities that rarely exceed a few hundred cases a year and sold almost entirely through a mailing list that has been closed to new members for decades, Screaming Eagle wines are as difficult to acquire as they are celebrated.

Estate History

Jean Phillips, a Napa Valley real estate agent, purchased the 57 acre Oakville property in 1986. For years she sold the fruit to other local winemakers, until encouragement from Robert Mondavi convinced her to plant Cabernet Sauvignon and make her own wine. The estate's first vintage, released in 1992 with early input from winemaker Heidi Barrett and neighboring vintner Gustav Dalla Valle, earned a 99 point score from Robert Parker and turned Screaming Eagle into a sensation almost overnight.

The winery changed hands in 2006, when Phillips sold the estate to investment manager Charles Banks and businessman Stan Kroenke. Kroenke became sole owner in 2009 and remains so today. Winemaker Nick Gislason, who previously worked at Harlan Estate, has led the winemaking program since the 2011 vintage, continuing the same exacting standards that built the estate's reputation.

The Vineyard

Screaming Eagle's vineyard sits in the Oakville AVA off the Silverado Trail, close to Dalla Valle, on a property of roughly 60 acres divided into dozens of small parcels. The soils here are a mix of rock, gravel, loam, and clay, and the vineyard's west-facing slopes give it an early-ripening microclimate, often making it one of the first sites in the area to harvest each year. The estate's vineyards are managed by David Abreu Vineyard Management, with farming practices geared toward consistency and low yields rather than volume.

Signature Wines

Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon

The estate's flagship wine and the bottling most associated with the Screaming Eagle name. A Cabernet Sauvignon based blend rounded out with small amounts of Merlot and Cabernet Franc, it's aged in French oak for 18 to 20 months before release. Annual production typically falls between 400 and 800 cases, almost all of it allocated to longtime mailing list members.

The Flight

Introduced in 2006 as Second Flight and renamed The Flight starting with the 2015 vintage, this is Screaming Eagle's second wine and its Merlot-driven counterpart to the Cabernet-based flagship. Built around old vine Merlot from within the estate's Oakville vineyard, The Flight offers a distinct, more Merlot-forward expression of the property while still reflecting the same meticulous farming and winemaking standards as the flagship.

Screaming Eagle Blanc

A rare white wine the estate began producing in 2012, made predominantly from Sauvignon Blanc sourced from a small block in the northwestern section of the vineyard. Production has been kept deliberately tiny, at times limited to just a single barrel, and the wine has become nearly as sought after as the flagship red on the secondary market.

Winemaking Philosophy

Every wine at Screaming Eagle starts with the same obsessive standard applied in the vineyard: low yields, meticulous hand sorting, and only the best fruit making it into any given vintage. Whatever doesn't meet that bar is declassified or sold off rather than compromising the wines that carry the estate's name.

That same discipline carries into the cellar, where small-lot fermentation and careful barrel aging are used to build wines with both power and precision. The result across all three bottlings, the Cabernet Sauvignon, The Flight, and the Blanc, is a consistent house style built for both immediate enjoyment and decades of cellaring.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Why is Screaming Eagle wine so expensive?

Screaming Eagle produces only a few hundred cases of its flagship Cabernet Sauvignon each year, and demand from collectors far outstrips that supply. The estate's mailing list, the primary way to purchase directly, has been closed to new members for years, pushing much of the demand onto the secondary market and driving prices well above most other Napa Valley Cabernets.

Who owns Screaming Eagle winery?

Screaming Eagle is owned by businessman Stan Kroenke, who acquired the estate alongside investment manager Charles Banks in 2006 and became sole owner in 2009. Founder Jean Phillips sold the winery after building it from a single Oakville vineyard she purchased in 1986.

What is Screaming Eagle The Flight?

The Flight is Screaming Eagle's second wine, made from younger vines within the estate's Oakville vineyard. Originally introduced in 2006 as Second Flight, it was renamed The Flight with the 2015 vintage and offers a more accessible way to experience the estate's style.

What is Screaming Eagle Blanc?

Screaming Eagle Blanc is a rare white wine the estate began producing in 2012, made predominantly from Sauvignon Blanc grown in a small vineyard block. Production is extremely limited, and the wine is considered one of the hardest Screaming Eagle bottlings to find.

How is Screaming Eagle wine sold?

Screaming Eagle sells the large majority of its production directly to members of its mailing list, which has been closed to new members for an extended period. As a result, most collectors acquire Screaming Eagle wines through the secondary market or from specialist retailers.