Courtney Benham Cabernet Sauvignon 2020
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Wilfred
Wong
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This quintessential Cabernet highlights the expressive terroir throughout Napa, a perfect balance of mountain and valley floor fruit. Structured and fleshy, it is complex and fruit-driven through the mid-palate with perfectly integrated tannins, nuances of French oak, with distinct minerality, and an elegant finish.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2020 Courtney Benham Cabernet Sauvignon is lovely and complex. TASTING NOTES: This wine offers aromas and flavors of savory spices and ripe blackberries. Try it with a rare slice of prime rib. (Tasted: November 22, 2023, San Francisco, CA)
Falling in love with wine, meant falling in love with Napa for Courtney Benham. Inspired by his farmland upbringing, Courtney found himself entrenched in the wine industry early in his life. 30 years later, as dedicated to his craft now as he was from day one, he brings you distinctive wines from Napa Valley.
A perfect convergence of soil and climate, Napa offers diversity unlike any other wine region in the world. It is distinctive, it is dramatic, its enviable terroir results in wines of complexity, breadth, and beauty. Rooted in the philosophy that great wine cannot exist without ideal growing, Courtney Benham wines are a tribute to his love of terroir, and the heightened sense of clarity when two elements merge.
Courtney Benham, a leader in quality wine for nearly 30 years, brings you top bottlings from the Napa Valley. From high elevation mountain appellations, to benchland vineyards and sun-drenched valley sites, he seeks locations of distinction, offering wines that are expressive, terroir driven, and exceed expectations.
Stags Leap District
Just west of the Vaca Range, this historic district was the first designated AVA in the valley. Benefitting from afternoon marine winds that cool its average daytime temperatures of 90-100 degrees, it is ideal for Cabernet and Merlot. Loam, clay, and ancient volcanic alluvial runoff are coarser and retain less water, resulting in low vigor and fruit yielding great intensity.
Rutherford District
From the heart of the valley floor, these vineyards see perfect weather with lingering morning fog and warm daytime highs in the mid 90’s, with the western bench seeing less afternoon sun. Marine winds coupled with a range of soil, from gravel and loam to volcanic deposits, this district’s distinctive terroir offers wines of complexity and character unlike any other in Napa Valley.
Covering the most vine acreage in the state compared to any other red wine variety, Cabernet Sauvignon produces as much wine in California as Merlot and Pinot Noir combined. The state’s diverse terrain and microclimates, as well as the freedom of its winemakers, allow for an incredible range of wine styles from this single grape.
California’s most famous region—and especially for Cabernet Sauvignon—is the acclaimed Napa Valley. While Cabernet is successful throughout the world, rarely has it achieved such merit as it does from the Napa Valley. At this point the two are so intrinsically linked that it is difficult to discuss one without the other.
Napa’s closest neighbor, Sonoma County, does an impressive job keeping up with Napa’s fame and glory. Alexander Valley, Sonoma Mountain, Moon Mountain and Knights Valley contribute to the lot of some of California’s top-rated Cabernet Sauvignon.
Lake County in California’s North Coast has become a focus for some of Napa’s more respected growers. From the Central Coast come iconic examples of classic California Cabernet; Lodi and the Sierra Foothills are great budget-friendly sources of amicable Cabernets.