The Majesty of Time: 25 Years of Corison’s Kronos Cabernet

For many of my readers, Cathy Corison needs no introduction (see Tasting Integrity: 25 Years of Corison Napa Cabernet). Quite to the contrary, for many of us, this legendary winemaker and her wines sit firmly in the pantheon of Napa’s greatest talents and greatest expressions of place.

All of Cathy’s wines are excellent, but one of them stands apart from the others and always has. It comes from a special place that itself stands apart from the rest of Napa Valley—one of the region’s oldest and most regal plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon.

Cathy is about to release the 26th vintage of her Kronos Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, and so she decided it was time to take a look back on her first 25 years working with this remarkable vineyard, and she invited a lucky few of us along for the retrospective.

The Story of Kronos Vineyard

“We had started the winery a few years earlier, and it had gotten to the point that we were selling what we made, and land prices had leveled off,” says Corison. “It was probably the only time ever that there was a little bit of a downturn in the Napa economy. So I sent out my husband William Martin with the soil maps between Rutherford and St. Helena, looking for Bale gravelly loam, which is the alluvial soil of the Rutherford Bench that made all the most wonderful wines historically, and most of which is up against the hills with trophy homes on it. And then one day William came home and said, ‘You know that place on the highway that has been for sale for 8 years?’”

Just south of St. Helena on Highway 29 sat an old farmhouse and barn that had the distinction of being the first property to be denied a use permit by the County of Napa. At the time these permits had been newly instituted by the county as a check against what some saw as the unfettered growth of the wine industry. The French owner’s plans included knocking down the house and the barn, putting 100 parking spots along the highway, and some water treatment ponds on the back of the property.

“The neighbors didn’t like it, the county didn’t like it, and they just shut it down,” recalls Corison. “So the Frenchman, he took his ball and went home and put the property on the market and it just sat there because everyone thought it was too expensive. We stumbled onto it 8 years later.”

According to the soil maps, however, the property had a significant amount of Bale gravelly loam, and Corison and Martin quickly realized that while the real estate listing stated the vineyard was planted on AXR-1 rootstock (which Corison did not care for due to its excessive vigor) the front vineyard was planted on St. George rootstock, and the vines dated to 1971. The listing also noted that the old farmhouse had been condemned.

“That sounded like ‘bare land’ to us,” chuckles Corison, “so on a complete whim, we put in an offer for what we thought was a much fairer price. And, well, it’s been a bit of a miracle. The vineyard was 24 years old when we bought it in 1995, and now it’s about to turn 54 years old. It’s one of the last old Cabernet vineyards in Napa on St. George rootstock. I knew it was going to make great wine someday but to be honest, it was great right from the start. The combination of the soils and the climate in our little corner of the valley means we can make Cabernet as well or better than anyone in the world, and these old vines, well, they are a gift.”

Corison’s objection to the then-newly-developed AXR-1 rootstock was mostly about its yields and vigor, both of which tend to be much higher than St. George, “which has the tendency to set scraggly clusters of tiny berries,” says Corison.

The other primary selling point of AXR-1 was its supposed resistence to Phylloxera. Unfortunately, that claim proved disastrously false, resulting in the wholesale replanting of much of Napa Valley in the late 1990s and early 2000s, making vineyard plots like Kronos all the more rare and precious.

Winemaker as Auteur

In addition to the sheer pleasure that her wines offer, Corison has long been remarkable as a winemaker for her steadfastness of vision. From the early 1980s until now, she has pursued her singular, elegant vision of Napa Cabernet irrespective of trend, fashion, or critical opinion.

As average picking dates in the valley drifted from September into October, and even into November, and as brix levels at harvest steadily climbed from the late 1990s into the 2000s, Corison has never wavered in her decision to pick Cabernet when she thinks it is ripe, which means that her wines have often finished fermentation before many of her neighbors are even considering pulling fruit off their vines.

“I suppose I’m just stubborn,” laughs Corison. “I fell in love with wine when I was 19 years old. Two years later I graduated, and I came to Napa two days after that knowing I wanted to make wine. It makes no sense. That was 49 years ago. I never said to myself that I was going to get into wine and make it a business. I always looked at it like I have to sell what I made this year if I’m going to get to make it again the next year.”

Corison worked at York Creek Vineyards, Yverdon Winery, Chappellet Vineyard, Long Meadow Ranch, and Staglin Family Vineyards, starting her own label in the midst of that career with purchased fruit from the 1987 vintage. Since those earliest days of her own label, apart from minor dalliances with Gewurztraminer, Riesling, and a varietal Cabernet Franc, Corison has been focused solely on Cabernet Sauvignon, and on making it in a way she believes best expresses what Napa Valley has to offer.

38 Years of Intention

“I taste and drink widely the wines of the world,” explains Corison when asked about her personal style of winemaking. “The wines that I love from around the world have a life force, almost a vibration to them. They’ll be table-worthy, they’ll be age-worthy, and they’ll speak of where they grew. This sensibility was always a part of me, and having made wine in the hills for other people, there was this sense of how I thought wine should be that needed to get out [into the world]. It was fully formed before I made the first Kronos Cabernet. I hope I’ve gotten better at it over the years, but stylistically, it was fully formed.”

“I want my wines to be aromatic,” continues Corison. “I want them to be complex. I have all the fruit flavors that Cabernet can do, everything from red to blue to purple to black—so cherries to blueberries to plums to fig seeds to blackberries. In a good vintage, all those flavors could be in the same glass at the same time. The trick there is to pick early. Yes, I want lower alcohol—my alcohols are almost always under 14%—but it’s not just about alcohol, it’s all the other things that come with it. If I wait to pick Cabernet Sauvignon so long that I lose the red and blue end of the flavor spectrum, I can never get it back. I could manipulate the juice to get the numbers back, but I can’t get the flavors back. I’ve basically been trying to do the same thing for 38 years now.”

“While I can say that I’m making wines very much in the style of what was being made in Napa Valley when I got here 49 years ago, I can also say we’ve gotten an awful lot better at growing grapes,” continues Corison. “Back in those days, they pruned ’em, and they picked ’em. The crops were a lot bigger. A lot of things have changed. We learned a lot about balance and canopy management, and that’s all about getting the right amount of air and light into the fruit, which is essential for getting ripe Cabernet at lower sugars.”

Six years ago, Corison decided to take over the farming for her vineyards personally.

“It’s what I did instead of retiring,” she jokes. “All the kids had left, so… now we do all the work. Instead of asking a vineyard management company to do something and having it get done in the next few weeks, the vines get what they need when they need it. That’s a big development and third full-time job for me.”

Corison has farmed the Kronos vineyard (and the rest of her vineyards) organically since the first day she owned them, but never certified them until her daughter Grace came back to work at the winery and made official certification one of her projects.

Dancing With Elegance

“What you’re looking at here is the same winemaker, the same stylistic goals, and the same vineyard for 25 years,” says Corison as an introduction to this once-in-a-lifetime vertical retrospective tasting. “So what you’re seeing here, besides time in the bottle is all about season. Wine is one of those amazing things that can speak of time and place, and I hope you’ll find these wines do. If they are age-worthy, they can still speak of time and place. Each one is different because every season is very different. They all, however, have the signature of Kronos Vineyard, and perhaps a sense of the winemaker, but more than anything, what you’re seeing here is Mother Nature.”

Tasting through these wines was a truly remarkable experience and one that I shall not soon forget. Corison’s Kronos Cabernet is among my favorite of Napa wines, and one of the valley’s most elegant and refined expressions of the grape. Unlike most other Napa Cabernets, they express fruit without weight or heaviness on the palate, possess incredibly juicy acidity, and clock in well below 14% alcohol by volume.

I believe this combination of delicacy, floral aromatics, lighter body, and less overt power that I adore so much has largely been responsible for Corison’s wines failing to achieve the renown (and demand) that richer, riper, and more powerful expressions of Napa Cabernet have earned in the last 30 years.

I’ve personally been giving Corison’s wines 9 and 9.5 point ratings since I started writing 20 years ago. But before Antonio Galloni began reviewing Napa wines for Robert M. Parker, Jr., Corison’s wines regularly received anemic scores from the boss at the Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator if they were scored at all. Now Corison’s wines, and the Kronos Vineyard Cabernet in particular, regularly score in the 95-100 point range from Galloni and other professional critics.

Nonetheless, compared to other 97-point-scoring Napa Cabernet, Corison’s wines remain both underpriced and relatively easy to acquire. I don’t imagine that will continue forever, especially if Corison continues to put on tastings that so incontrovertibly demonstrate the brilliance, ageability, and sheer deliciousness of her wines.

Looking back on the progression of wines, I think the 2006 vintage marks an inflection point in the ongoing evolution of these wines. That is to say that the wines older than 2006 feel like they are in a different era of maturity than those vintages younger than 2006. In other words, the first 18 years of Kronos Cabernet are generally marked by the dominance of primary, fresh fruit characteristics of berries and cherries. Whereas after 18 years the wine begins to show secondary characteristics of herbs, spices, dried flowers, and citrus peel with greater prominence.

The wines are beautiful at every point along their aging spectrum, of course, but at the 8-15 year zone following harvest, they really kick into gear and begin to express the multi-layered complexity that only these old Cabernet vines are truly capable of delivering. At 20 years old, they are transcendent.

“I kind of feel looking back on these wines that my life is flashing in front of my eyes. 25 years is a long time to spend with one vineyard,” says Corison, who admitted in a particularly unguarded moment during the tasting that there was a point in those 25 years where she worried that the winery might not make it and would have to shut down. The collective horror at this idea, expressed silently in a room filled with the intoxicating scent of some of Napa’s most profound wines was palpable. The Corison Kronos Cabernet, like the woman who makes it, is one of Napa Valley’s genuine treasures, and if we’re all lucky enough, we’ll get to enjoy it for many years to come.

Tasting Notes

All of the wines below were tasted out of magnum and taken directly from the winery’s library. That means that they are in the absolute best possible shape they could be in for their age.

1996 Corison Winery “Kronos Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa, California
Medium ruby in the glass, this wine smells of dried herbs, incense, carob, dried cherries, and a hint of smoked meat. In the mouth, gorgeous acidity makes flavors of dried cherries, dried herbs, sour cherries, and citrus peel juicy and bright. Powdery tannins hang cloudlike in the mouth. There’s a hint of pencil shavings here, as well as dried flowers. Mouthwatering and delicious with incredible freshness given its age. 12.8% alcohol. 400 cases made. “1996 was one of those vintages with a really crummy flowering. We had to drop green crop at veraison, and it was a really long cold season,” says Corison. Score: between 9.5 and 10. Cost: $n/a

1997 Corison Winery “Kronos Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa, California
Medium ruby in color, this wine smells (shockingly given the wine’s age) of blueberries and cherries. In the mouth, gorgeous acidity makes mouthwatering flavors of cherry, blueberry, and dried flowers come alive with electric, vibrant acidity. Powdery tannins coat the mouth and leave a faint gauzy quality across the palate. Herbs and dried flowers linger in the finish. Outstanding. 13.6% alcohol. 500 cases made. “This was a riper, warmer year, and the beginnings of when some winemakers decided to go for a bigger style, not that I ever bought into that,” says Corison. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $349. click to buy.

1998 Corison Winery “Kronos Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa, California
Medium to dark ruby in the glass, with garnet highlights, this wine smells of incredibly aromatic green herbs, berries, a touch of green bell pepper, and earth. In the mouth, gorgeous bright acidity keeps flavors of earth, green herbs, cherry, and tobacco leaf rich and bright with wonderfully savory notes. Citrus peel and graphite mix with pipe tobacco and earth in the finish. Gorgeous texture and balance. Outstanding acidity. 13.6% alcohol. 500 cases made. “A very challenging year. It was cold and raining at flowering which gave us a crummy, uneven set which led to a tiny crop. We had to drop a lot of green fruit at veraison which was hard to do with an already tiny crop. The rest of the summer was long and cool and gave us even ripening. This vintage has been one of our biggest surprises,” says Corison. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $n/a

1999 Corison Winery “Kronos Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa, California
Medium ruby in the glass with garnet highlights, this wine smells of pencil shavings, tobacco leaf, cherry, and incense. In the mouth, muscular tannins wrap around cedar and tobacco, earth, dried herbs, and cocoa powder. There’s a hint of wood here, with amazing scents of dried flowers. Fantastic acidity. 13.6% alcohol. 500 cases made “This was the first time I thought we might not get grapes ripe. It was a really cold season, but the ‘Indian summer’ brought the grapes home,” says Corison. Score: between 9.5 and 10. Cost: $n/a

2000 Corison Winery “Kronos Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa, California
Medium to dark ruby in the glass with garnet highlights, this wine smells of pencil shavings, cherry, and tobacco leaf. In the mouth, wonderfully fine tannins wrap around a core of cherry, minty aromatic herbs, dried flowers, pencil shavings, and gorgeous acidity. Juicy, fine, and wonderfully aromatic. A transcendent wine at its peak, but who knows how long that peak will last? Perhaps for many more years. Really breathtaking. 13.8% alcohol. 555 cases made. “Well the computers didn’t crash and it was a nearly perfect ripening season,” says Corison. Score: around 10. Cost: $895 in magnum. click to buy.

2001 Corison Winery “Kronos Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa, California
Medium to dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of warm earth, dried herbs, sour cherries, and flowers. In the mouth, bright sour cherry and cherry flavors mix with dried herbs, citrus peel, and dusty earth. Lightly grippy tannins coat the mouth, as mouthwatering acidity lingers with hints of wet chalkboard in the finish. Incredibly fresh thanks to that outstanding acidity. 13.8% alcohol. 535 cases made. “We had this perfect cool August and September after a hot May and June. During the final weeks of ripening, it was 10 degrees cooler than normal. Cold nights give us more color and keep acidity longer.  My favorite vintages are always the longest and coolest,” says Corison. Score: between 9.5 and 10. Cost: $675 in magnum. click to buy.

2002 Corison Winery “Kronos Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa, California
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of camphorwood and cherry, incense, and cocoa powder. In the mouth, powdery tannins coat the mouth and wrap with some muscle around a core of cherry, black cherry, dried earth, and green herbs. Excellent acidity, with surprising fresh-herbal greenness in the finish. Floral, lifted, and mouthwatering. 13.8% alcohol. 515 cases made. Score: between 9.5 and 10. Cost: $855 in magnum. click to buy.

2003 Corison Winery “Kronos Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa, California
Medium to dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of dried herbs, prunes, and dried flowers. In the mouth, stony tannins coat the mouth and wrap around a wonderfully fresh core of blueberry, black cherry, aromatic herbs, and fresh chopped herbs. Outstanding acidity with blue qualities to the fruit. Dried herbs linger on the finish with just a hint of oak. 13.8% alcohol. 560 cases made. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $549 in magnum. click to buy.

2004 Corison Winery “Kronos Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa, California
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of tobacco leaf and pencil shavings, dark cherries, and dried herbs. In the mouth, incredibly juicy acidity makes flavors of cherry and dried herbs, gorgeous sour cherry, tobacco leaf/cigar box, and citrus peel utterly mouthwatering. Muscular tannins linger stonily in the finish. Incredible lift and soaring aromatics. A stunning wine. 13.8% alcohol. 435 cases made. Score: around 10. Cost: $n/a

2005 Corison Winery “Kronos Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa, California
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of black cherry and tobacco leaf, dried herbs, and dried flowers. In the mouth, gorgeous juicy flavors of cherry and black cherry mix with dried herbs and muscular tannins that gradually squeeze the palate and linger stonily in the finish along with dusty earth, dried herbs, and flowers. Excellent, mouthwatering acidity. 13.8% alcohol. 475 cases made. Score: between 9.5 and 10. Cost: $559 in magnum. click to buy.

2006 Corison Winery “Kronos Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa, California
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of blueberries and flowers. In the mouth, juicy acidity makes blueberry and cherry flavors bright with a touch of pencil lead and earth. Dried herbs linger in the finish with stony, powdery tannins that are gauzy and wispy. 13.8% alcohol. 630 cases made. “This was one of the rainiest seasons ever and a real challenge. There were floods at New Year’s and it just kept raining and didn’t stop. Then there was a big heat spike in July. Then it got cold again,” says Corison.  Score: around 9.5. Cost: $775 in magnum. click to buy.

2007 Corison Winery “Kronos Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa, California
Very dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of pencil lead, blueberries, and black cherry. In the mouth, black cherry and blueberry flavors are incredibly bright and stony with notes of dried herbs and dried flowers. Powdery, muscular tannins coat the mouth and gorgeous acidity lingers in the finish with notes of citrus peel. 13.8% alcohol. 330 cases made. Score: between 9.5 and 10. Cost: $569 in magnum. click to buy.

2008 Corison Winery “Kronos Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa, California
Very dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of black cherry, herbs, a hint of lavender, and dried flowers. In the mouth, muscular fine-grained tannins wrap around a core of black cherry and blueberry flavors mixed with dried flowers and dried herbs. Excellent acidity and freshness. Delicious. 13.8% alcohol. 350 cases made. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $n/a

2009 Corison Winery “Kronos Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa, California
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of black cherry, blueberry, sage, and wet stone. In the mouth, incredibly fine-grained tannins wrap around a core of blue and dark red fruits with dried flowers and an ethereal texture that is remarkably compelling. Fine dried herbs and flowers linger in the finish. Regal and refined with a lithe grace and subtle power that is riveting. 13.1% alcohol. 210 cases made. Score: around 10. Cost: $n/a

2010 Corison Winery “Kronos Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa, California
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of dried herbs, dried flowers, and black cherries with a hint of something that hangs on the edge of earthy or even musty. In the mouth, the wine is incredibly intense, with amazing acidity and gorgeous powdery tannins that coat the mouth surrounding sour cherry, blueberry, black cherry, and dried herb flavors that vibrate with incredible electricity and length. Stunning balance and expression. 13.6% alcohol. 530 cases made. “This vintage it finally started to rain again after a long drought. It was a long cool season, so cool that we had to pick the vineyard twice,” says Corison. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $530 in magnum. click to buy.

2011 Corison Winery “Kronos Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa, California
Medium to dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of aromatic herbs, cedar, and sour cherries. In the mouth, gorgeous sour cherry and citrus peel flavors are bright and mouthwatering with powdery tannins, dried herbs, and dried flowers. Stunning bright acidity and juiciness. Citrusy notes linger for a long time through the soaring finish. Poised and vibrant. 13% alcohol. 495 cases made. “Honestly, this was the first year I thought we might not harvest any grapes at all. I always joked with people that at least we never have to worry about Botrytis with Cabernet Sauvignon, but this year in the valley proved me wrong. We had to be very careful with our fruit,” says Corison. Score: between 9.5 and 10. Cost: $249 in 750ml. click to buy.

2012 Corison Winery “Kronos Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa, California
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of black cherry, dried herbs, dried flowers, and blueberries. In the mouth, blueberry and chopped green herbs mix with black cherry, tobacco leaf, and a touch of dark earth. Powdery tannins coat the mouth and hang gauzily in the finish. Rich without being weighty. Fantastic. 13.7% alcohol. 850 cases made. “A classic, normal, nothing-to-talk-about vintage,” says Corison. Score: between 9.5 and 10. Cost: $1625 in double magnum (3L). click to buy.

2013 Corison Winery “Kronos Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa, California
Very dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of flowers, blueberries, black cherries, and pencil shavings. Gorgeous acidity and brightness make juicy flavors of black cherry and blueberry flavors vibrate on the palate, with tinges of dried herbs and citrus peel. Dried herbs linger in the finish with a hint of licorice. Stunning balance and brightness with incredibly supple tannins. The wine has a floral depth—a descriptor I realize might seem a little puzzling—but it is the phrase that comes to mind as I try to describe this shimmering, stunning wine. 13.4% alcohol. 950 cases made. “This was an early vintage, but it stayed cool through the summer,” says Corison. Score: around 10. Cost: $635 in magnum. click to buy.

2014 Corison Winery “Kronos Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa, California
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of black cherry, licorice, and a hint of tobacco. In the mouth, rich and lush black cherry and blackcurrant flavors are nestled into a velvety blanket of tannins. Juicy acidity keeps things from being too rich, but this wine feels on the riper side for Kronos, though that’s all relative as it clocks in at a modest XX% alcohol. Regardless, it’s gorgeous. 13.5% alcohol. 635 cases made. “We were in the midst of the drought, and then we had an earthquake,” says Corison. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $615 in magnum. click to buy.

2015 Corison Winery “Kronos Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa, California
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of black cherry, bing cherry, and tobacco leaf. In the mouth, gorgeous supple tannins surround a stony core of blueberry, licorice, and blackcurrant mixed with a hint of pencil lead and citrus peel. Fantastic acidity. The tannins get muscular over time. Incredibly fresh with fantastic acidity. Exhuberant and boisterous. 13.2% alcohol. 435 cases made. “This was my earliest harvest on record, and a small vintage in terms of quantity,” says Corison. Score: between 9.5 and 10. Cost: $200-250 in 750ml. click to buy.

2016 Corison Winery “Kronos Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa, California
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of black cherry and blackcurrant with hints of floral overtones. In the mouth, gorgeous, electric acidity makes blackcurrant and black cherry flavors come alive as floral notes and citrus peel mix with dried flowers. Gauzy, powdery tannins hang wispy in the background. Intense acidity and depth. 13.3% alcohol. 590 cases made. “This was a perfect vintage,” says Corison. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $220 in 750ml, $350 in magnum. click to buy.

2017 Corison Winery “Kronos Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa, California
Very dark garnet in the glass, this wine is extremely perfumed with soaring floral aromatics over black cherry and blackcurrant fruit. In the mouth, incredibly intense acidity brings blackcurrant and blueberry flavors alive with vibrant electricity as floral notes layer over the top, and the whole mouth is coated with dusty, powdery tannins. Seamless, effortless, and shimmering. 13.9% alcohol. 700 cases made. “Finally we had some rain again this year,” says Corison. Score: around 10. Cost: $200 in 750ml. click to buy.

2018 Corison Winery “Kronos Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa, California
Dark garnet in the glass with purple highlights, this wine smells of cherry, blackcurrant, and dried herbs. In the mouth, gorgeous bright acidity makes flavors of blackcurrant, sour cherry, and dried herbs incredibly juicy with hints of dried herbs and light muscular tannins. Earthy notes linger in the finish. Gorgeous balance and vibrancy. 13.6% alcohol. 610 cases made. Score: between 9.5 and 10. Cost: $248 in 750ml. click to buy.

2019 Corison Winery “Kronos Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa, California
Very dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of sweet blueberries and black cherry fruit with a hint of vanilla. In the mouth, black cherry and blueberry flavors mix with blackcurrant and bright juicy acidity. Muscular tannins coat the mouth as hints of citrus peel linger in the finish with herbs and floral notes. Tannins are still a bit tight. Fantastic acidity. 13.7% alcohol. 590 cases made. Score: around 9.5. Cost: $248 in 750ml. click to buy.

2020 Corison Winery “Kronos Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa, California
Dark garnet in the glass with purple highlights, this wine smells of florals, blackcurrant, black cherry, and a hint of oak. In the mouth, intense black cherry, blackcurrant, licorice, and blueberry flavors mix with flowers and sweet oak. Light powdery tannins get slightly stiffer over time. The oak has a presence here and needs a little time to be absorbed into the wine. Gorgeous and velvety with fantastic acidity and balance. Give this one 2-4 years. 14% alcohol. 345 cases made. Score: between 9.5 and 10. Cost: $234 in 750ml. click to buy.

And just because the timing works out, there’s also a bonus round!

I recently received a press sample of the 2021 vintage:

2021 Corison Winery “Kronos Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa, California
Very dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of blackcurrant, flowers, and the nutty notes of oak. In the mouth, phenomenal acidity makes flavors of black cherry, blackcurrant, and raspberries juicy and bright on the palate. Gorgeous, fine-grained tannins coat the mouth and remain supple through the very long floral and oak-scented finish. While the wood pokes out a bit here in the wine’s youth, it will soon be subsumed into the remarkable fruits and florals of this wine. Incredibly balanced and effortless. Easy to drink now but wait a few years for the best experience. This wine is built for the long haul.
13.8% alcohol. 325 cases made. Score: between 9.5 and 10. Cost: $. Will be released in Spring of 2025.

The post The Majesty of Time: 25 Years of Corison’s Kronos Cabernet appeared first on Vinography.