Professional Ratings

• 95 Jeb Dunnuck
  One of the flagship releases, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Benchland Select is all Cabernet Sauvignon that spent 22 months in 60% new French oak. Deep purple-hued with a classic Cabernet nose of blackcurrants, cassis, graphite, cedary spice, and chocolate, this puppy hits the palate with full-bodied richness, an elegant, seamless texture, a chalky minerality, and a great finish. It's a smoking good Cabernet Sauvignon that will improve with 2-5 years of bottle age and cruise for two decades or more. This 2017 matches what this estate achieved in 2016 and 2015.
• 94 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
  Bottled only three weeks ago, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Benchland Select is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, with 44% of the fruit coming from Vine Hill Ranch, 52% from Hill Ranch and 4% from Cakebread Oakville Ranch. It was aged 22 months in 60% new French oak. Very deep purple-black colored, it slowly emerges from the glass to reveal notions of baked black cherries, stewed black plums and warm cassis with touches of aged meat, dark chocolate, bay leaves and pencil shavings. Medium to full-bodied, the palate packs in the black fruits, supported by bags of freshness and a firm, grainy texture, finishing long and with tons of energy.
• 93 Wine Spectator
  A lovely wine, with dark cherry, plum, fig and boysenberry fruit melded together, picking up light mulling spice, sassafras and singed juniper notes along the way, before ending with a late flurry of fruit and dark earth hints. Drink now through 2034.
• 92 James Suckling

  Lots of black plum, mahogany, walnut and myrrh on the nose. Dark cocoa, too. It’s full-bodied with firm, integrated tannins. Rich layers of ripe black fruit and toasty spice. Better from 2021.