" We don't sell the wine without touching the vine "
Cornerstone Cellars Benchlands Cabernet Sauvignon 2016
No longer available.
| Country: | United States |
| Regions: | California California (Napa) |
| Winery: | Cornerstone |
| Grape Type: | Cabernet Sauvignon |
| Organic: | Yes |
| Vintage: | 2016 |
| Bottle Size: | 750 ml |
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Review:
Lots of pure cassis and blueberry- like fruits as well as licorice, graphite, and crushed rock-like minerality, emerge from the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Hillstone Vineyard. It's a full-bodied, opulent, powerful Cabernet Sauvignon that doesn't pull any punches on the fruit or texture scale, yet has ripe, present tannins, a light, elegant texture, and a great finish. Give bottles an hour in a decanter if drinking any time soon, or better yet, hide bottles for 2-3 years. It's going to evolve for 15+ years in cold cellars.
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Production Notes:
The fruit was delicately hand-picked in the early morning hours and brought into the winery for processing. The grapes were crushed, about 60% whole berry, and cold soaked for three days before being inoculated for primary and malo-lactic fermentation. Once dry, the wine was put down to barrel for 20 months in medium toast French oak, 25% of which was new.
Vineyard Notes:
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Review:
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Review:
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Review:
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Barrels: 54% new French oak, 46% second-use Schrader Darnajou French Oak
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Product Description
Cornerstone Cellars Benchlands Cabernet Sauvignon is made from 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot.
Blackberry, dark Bing cherry, and a hint of licorice notes lead the charge, with a touch of vanilla and a touch of ripe plum close behind. The first sip is as smooth and luscious as you might expect. The sweet black fruit at the start is intertwined with complex layers of cassis, dark chocolate, blueberries, and baking spice. The finish lingers with spice and sweet fruit, on a bed of supple tannins, which simply begs for another sip. This has everything we have come to know and love about Cabernet grown in the best viticultural areas of Napa Valley.
Review:
"This wine has a sticky grip to it, tannins that weigh around a huge concentration of cedar, clove and varietal cassis. The structure is impressive and lengthy, giving it a boost of complexity and power. - Virginie Boone"
- Wine Enthusiast (September 2020), 91 pts
Winery: Cornerstone
Like a lot of grand adventures, the Cornerstone story starts with a conversation between friends over a glass of wine. The result was Cornerstone Cellars, and two decades later, they are making wines with constancy and classic varietal attributes that manage to be distinctively approachable (and delicious). Their DNA combines old school Napa Valley ease with a welcoming Southern approach to entertaining, and the result is classic Napa wines that make any table and any dinner a little more welcoming and celebratory.
Cornerstone Cellars started with two friends, Michael Dragutsky and David Sloas, and five tons of Howell Mountain Cab grapes purchased from Randy Dunn. That’s commitment…and Cornerstone Cellars was born. They custom crushed their first vintage in 1991, a classic Napa Valley cab that won awards and got noticed in the still smallish Napa Valley wine community.
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VISION: Working with cool-climate fruit, Landon achieves a Napa Valley Chardonnay that is more traditional in style with balanced acidity, minimal oak and non-malolactic fermentation to highlight a full range of varietal fruit expression, taking inspiration from the coastal Chardonnays of Sonoma County.
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WINEMAKING: Our cellar is set up to handle each lot individually through the winemaking process, with every step intentionally designed to emphasize the natural aromatic and varietal character with minimal intervention. Each pick is whole-cluster pressed over two hours, with 23 check ins to ensure desired style— a gentle, yet labor-intensive program to help retain natural acidity and to isolate the exact desired press of juice. The juice is gently pumped to stainless-steel tanks then chilled to undergo cold stabulation for 5 days, keeping the light juice lees in suspension to enhance aromatics. The juice is then racked off the lees to each vessel and individually inoculated to begin a cold fermentation to completely dry, and then rests on the lees (yeast) for 6 months for a final build of body and flavors before the blend is assembled.
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Review:
Bright, fresh green apples in the nose and tangy, appetizing lemon zest and kiwis on the palate give this lively wine a palate-cleansing expression that will be fantastic for pairing with fish, shellfish and poultry.
-Wine Enthusiast 93 Points
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