Silver Oak bets on game night: a $450 backgammon set, a bottle of Cabernet, and only 100 to sell
The Napa Valley Cabernet house has paired with Los Angeles game maker Throwing Doubles on 100 handmade leather backgammon sets, each bundled with a bottle of its 2022 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and on sale October 15, a holiday gift play that sells the occasion as much as the wine.
NAPA: Silver Oak is taking a seat at the backgammon table. The winery announced on October 13 that it has partnered with Los Angeles luxury game maker Throwing Doubles on a limited-edition leather backgammon set, with just 100 units made, each bundled with a bottle of 2022 Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon for $450.
The set goes on sale October 15, exclusively through Silver Oak's own site, while supplies last, the announcement said. Independent coverage of the launch in OffTheMrkt and Restaurant Hospitality News carried the same terms: 100 sets, $450, October 15, sold only through Silver Oak.
Cabernet red, handmade in Los Angeles
Throwing Doubles developed a custom Cabernet-red leather board for the collaboration, finished with an embossed Silver Oak wordmark and handmade in Los Angeles, the announcement said. The board is designed to be played as much as displayed, and to travel: packed for weekends away and pulled out after dinner.
"Wine and backgammon both have these incredible histories, but neither needs to feel overly traditional," said Throwing Doubles founder Brittany Weinke in the announcement. "The best backgammon boards live out on a table."
Silver Oak's chief marketing officer, Lauren Larrabee, framed the set the same way, around the dinners the wine already shows up at. "It's the dinners with friends, family traditions, and nights that people remember years later," Larrabee said in the announcement.
Selling the occasion, not just the bottle
Throwing Doubles, founded in 2022 by Weinke, reworks classic games in premium Italian leather and sells through retailers including Moda Operandi, FWRD, goop and Nordstrom, according to the announcement. Silver Oak, founded in 1972 and known for Cabernet Sauvignon aged exclusively in American oak, says its wineries in Napa Valley and Alexander Valley were the first production wineries to achieve LEED Platinum certification.
The economics are the story under the gift wrap. A 100-unit run at $450 caps the gross at $45,000 before the wine is even counted as marketing, but the real return for a direct-to-consumer brand is a gift that sits on a coffee table all year, carrying the winery's name into rooms its tasting room never reaches. In a market where wineries are fighting for fewer drinking occasions, Silver Oak is bidding to own one of the occasions outright.
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