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Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville

About 500–600 cases by mailing list: the scarcity benchmark of American wine.

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Sign for the Oakville American Viticultural Area in Napa Valley, California, surrounded by mustard flowers
Patrick · Adobe Stock · Adobe Stock Standard License

Screaming Eagle's flagship Cabernet Sauvignon is produced in roughly 500–600 cases (trade reporting; the estate does not publish) and sold to a mailing list at a release price a fraction of its secondary-market value. Its 1992 first vintage established the cult-Cabernet category.

Made by
Screaming Eagle
From
Oakville, Napa Valley
Style
RedCabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc
Bottles made in a typical year
6.6K
The kind of wine

Napa cult Cabernet

A small-production Cabernet Sauvignon from the best land in Napa Valley, sold mostly to a private mailing list.

What a bottle like this costs to make

A glass of dark red wine on a winery terrace above vineyards and golden hills at sunset

Good years and bad

One square for each year. The darker the square, the better the weather was for the grapes. Tap a year to read about it.

20232022202120202019201820172016201520142013201220112010200920082007200620052004200320022001200019991998199719961995
ExceptionalExcellentVery goodGoodMixedDifficult
The essentials

The wine and its economics

Screaming Eagle's flagship Cabernet Sauvignon is produced in roughly 500–600 cases (trade reporting; the estate does not publish) and sold to a mailing list at a release price a fraction of its secondary-market value. Its 1992 first vintage established the cult-Cabernet category.

Every year in a tableHow each year was rated, and the price the producer first asked
VintageHow the year was ratedRelease priceHow rare (0–100)The growing season
2023Very Good — 82
2022Mixed — 82
2021Excellent — 83
2020Difficult — 83The Glass and LNU fires; smoke taint led several cult estates to release no wine from the…
2019Excellent — 84
2018Excellent — 84
2017Mixed — 85Heat spike at harvest and the October fires; several estates released reduced quantities.
2016Excellent — 85
2015Very Good — 86
2014Excellent — 86
2013Exceptional — 86Long, even season; widely rated among Napa's best.
2012Excellent — 87
2011Difficult — 87Cool, wet, late; rot at harvest; many estates made little or declassified.
2010Good — 88
2009Very Good — 88
2008Good — 88
2007Excellent — 88
2006Very Good — 88
2005Very Good — 89
2004Very Good — 89
2003Good — 89
2002Excellent — 89
2001Excellent — 90
2000Good — 90
1999Very Good — 90
1998Mixed — 90
1997Excellent — 90
1996Very Good — 91
1995Very Good — 91
 Release price is what the producer first asked for a bottle. A dash means no price was published.

Find by year and rating

What does this wine cost to make?Our estimate: $26–$80 a bottle

We estimate it costs about $26 to $80 to make one bottle of a wine like this. The price in the shop is far higher because the land is scarce, the name is famous, and many hands take a share on the way to you.

ComponentLowHigh
Imputed land cost$3.82$16.44
Vineyard operations$5.79$18.46
Oak barrels$0.69$1.67
Winemaking labour and cellar work$3.00$6.00
Cellar aging$1.28$3.20
Bottle, closure, label, case and bottling$5.40$14.40
Winery overhead$4.00$10.00
Financing over the aging period$1.53$9.82
Estimated winery production cost$25.51$79.98
 One standard bottle, at the winery door. Built in US dollars and shown in your chosen currency.

See the full breakdown

Recent auction resultsWhat bottles of this wine fetched when collectors sold them
Sale dateVintageHouse and saleFormatLot pricePer bottle
Jul 20262011Christie'sFine & Rare Wines: Featuring The Reserve Cellar and 50th Anniversary Wines Direct From Stag's Leap Wine Cellars (sale 24555) · lot 15073 × 75 cl$6,250$2,083 with premium
Jun 20262018Christie'sThe Opulent Cellar: Online (sale 24463) · lot 6571 × 150 cl≈$5,097≈$5,097 with premium
Jun 20262018Christie'sThe Opulent Cellar: Online (sale 24463) · lot 6563 × 75 cl≈$7,168≈$2,389 with premium
Jun 20262018Christie'sThe Opulent Cellar: Online (sale 24463) · lot 6553 × 75 cl≈$7,168≈$2,389 with premium
Jun 20262018Christie'sThe Opulent Cellar: Online (sale 24463) · lot 6543 × 75 cl≈$7,168≈$2,389 with premium
Jun 20262007Christie'sThe Opulent Cellar: Online (sale 24463) · lot 6533 × 75 cl≈$8,761≈$2,920 with premium
Jun 20262007Christie'sThe Opulent Cellar: Online (sale 24463) · lot 6523 × 75 cl≈$9,557≈$3,186 with premium
Jun 20262002Christie'sThe Opulent Cellar: Online (sale 24463) · lot 6513 × 75 cl≈$7,646≈$2,549 with premium
Jun 20262019Christie'sFine and Rare Wines & Spirits Online Day 2: Featuring a Collection Direct from González Byass (sale 25045) · lot 10843 × 75 cl≈$6,614≈$2,205 with premium
May 20262023Christie'sFine and Rare Wines Online: Los Angeles Edition (sale 24553) · lot 4143 × 75 cl$6,250$2,083 with premium
May 20262022Christie'sFine and Rare Wines Online: Los Angeles Edition (sale 24553) · lot 4133 × 75 cl$6,000$2,000 with premium
May 20262021Christie'sFine and Rare Wines Online: Los Angeles Edition (sale 24553) · lot 4123 × 75 cl$6,250$2,083 with premium
 Prices are in the currency of each sale. Christie’s and Sotheby’s include the buyer’s fee; Hart Davis Hart shows the price before it.

All lots on record

The detailsClassification, grapes, bottle sizes and the rest
Producer
Screaming Eagle
Region
Napa Valley
Appellation
Oakville
Classification
Cult Napa Cabernet
Style
Red · 100% new French oak, ≈ 20 months
Grape composition
Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Francdominant
Bottle sizes
750 · 1500 · 3000 ml
Bottles made in a typical year
6,600 bottlesTrade reporting ≈ 500–600 cases
First vintage made
1992
Great years
11 of 29 rated excellent or exceptional

Comparable wines

Compare →

Wines from the same appellation or region that collectors weigh against this one.

Vineyard in Oakville, Napa Valley

Harlan Estate

The Oakville hillside proprietary red, about 1,500–2,000 cases, sold by mailing list since 1990.
Opus One, Oakville

Opus One

About 25,000 cases a year with Bordeaux-style distribution: Napa's liquidity leader.
Mustard flowers blooming between grape vines at a vineyard in spring in Yountville, Napa Valley, California

Dominus

Christian Moueix's dry-farmed Yountville Cabernet from Napanook, about 6,000–8,000 cases.
Aerial view of vineyards at sunrise with fog, Rutherford AVA, Napa Valley, California, USA

Scarecrow Cabernet Sauvignon

Old-vine Rutherford Cabernet from 1945 plantings, under a thousand cases, cult-priced within a decade of its 2003 debut.

Sources

  1. Screaming Eagle, 2025. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
Last reviewed: September 2026Report an error on this page