2018 Courtney Benham Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 750 ml

The 2018 Courtney Benham Cabernet Sauvignon—inky black with an inner ruby glow, big and voluminously perfumed with blackberry, cassis, red currant, and smoked black cherry—is without a doubt one of the best Napa Cab case-deals going. 

How else would you characterize a 93-point release that features rich, 100% Napa fruit from three famous vineyards—but costs less than $20 a bottle? Those are terms so rare, we’re still not sure exactly how Courtney Benham and 100-point winemaker Keith Emerson pulled it off. 

With its broad shoulders, defined tannins, and dark-fruit core, this bottle brought exclamations of wonder from our judging panel—especially when we saw the price sheet. Finishing with power and elegance, this is a magnificently constructed, full-bodied Cab that checks every box. 

For this 2018 bottling, Benham tapped vineyards that usually command prices that put bottles out of reach for most of us. To offer you this wine for under $20, those vineyards’ names have to be protected by an NDA. One is among the defining and legendary estates of the Stags Leap AVA, whose expressive Cabernet helped put Napa on the world wine map. Another site, where the grapes are marked by dusty Rutherford tannins, is a favorite source for Duckhorn. The volcanic, rocky soils of the third site, in Coombsville, produce wines that cost up to $400.

The Courtney Benham brand was born of Benham’s partnership with Keith Emerson. Their partnership has yielded a string of incredible bargains, and this may be the bottle that wakes the world up to the rare level of value from this winery. That means the best time to buy is now.