Courtney Benham is the owner of the Martin Ray winery, and along with his brother Derek, founded the Blackstone winery in the 1970s (which they sold in the 90s).
Besides producing the Martin Ray and Angeline lines of wines, Courtney also likes to dabble with wines, which he often sells under his own name. Sometimes, these are experimental wines, or something made from a one-time sourcing of grapes, or often, a wine that he's purchased at a great price from another winery (unlike most wineries, he has good cash flow; when a winery needs to sell some juice for a quick buck, he'll often step in to take advantage of the situation).
Typically, his Napa cabs are wines that are actually made somewhere else, sometimes blended with a bit of his own wine. As such, while always of pretty good quality, they vary greatly from one year to the next. So I'm always anxious to try out a new vintage.
Sadly, the 2009 was a little bit of a disappointment. It is good, with nice flavors of raspberry, currant, and just a hint of vanilla and spice. The problem is that, even though its 14.5% alcohol level isn't that high by modern standards, it doesn't quite handle it, and the alcohol shows through on the nose and mid-palate to a slight degree. Not enough to make it unpleasant to drink, but enough to keep it out of the "exceptional" category. If the price were lower, I would say to buy this, but with a $20 price point, I think that is at best average, and there are other better wines for the same price or lower.
I gave it a score of 84, with points off for balance due to the alcohol being obvious
Not recommended
However, if you happen to see any bottles of his 2008 Napa Cab, snap them up. That vintage was excellent.
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