If you choose one wine to stick in the cellar from the ’03 vintage, make it this one. It’s so dry, balanced and complex, yet so tannicly tough now, that it demands a good 6 years, at a minimum. The heart of blackberries and red currants is opulently rich, with overtones of cedar, pencil lead, red licorice and sweet dried herbs. Brings to mind a classic Rutherford…
— S.H.
(2/1/2008)
This wine is so balanced it hits the palate as impeccable and gorgeous. The flavors, of currants, cherries, vanilla and sweet oak, are only part of it. It is so dry, so richly structured in tannins and acids, so pure through the long, spicy finish, that it easily deserves its high score. Will age well for up to a decade.
— S.H.
(2/1/2009)
Smells very fine and pure. Classy black currants and toasty oak rule. Flavors are opulent, rich, ripe but very balanced. Gorgeous tannins; soft and accessible. Defines style and grace.
— S.H.
(2/1/2000)
This single-vineyard beauty is Corison’s cellar bet. Tasted beside her regular ’01 Napa Cab, it’s much deeper, darker and more brooding. It’s also far more tannic. It’s a big, flavorful wine, packed with plums, blackberries, currants and mocha, as well as a coating of sweet oak. This classic Cab should begin to soften in a few years and will drink well through 2012.
— S.H.
(12/1/2005)
This winery has had a reputation for making Cabs in a leaner, more ageworthy style, but that is no longer true, to judge by this ’05. It’s as ripe and fruity as anything out there, and immediately drinkable for its beautiful blackberry, black currant, chocolate and cedar flavors. Still, the tannins are considerable, and the wine should easily negotiate the years…
— S.H.
(12/31/2009)
Lovely mixed berries—black, red and blue—cedar shadings, and vanilla mark the nose of this elegant, finely crafted wine. Similar flavors prevail on the palate, with sophisticated licorice and pencil-lead accents. Balanced and graceful, it finishes dry and even, offering dried fruit and mineral notes. Complex and excellent already, but hold until 2004.
— W.E.
(11/1/2000)
A beautiful wine, dry and classically structured, showing the elegant balance for aging. Made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, it’s long and deep in blackberries and cassis. Give it a brief decant if you open it now, but it should develop over the next six years, at least.
— S.H.
(12/31/2010)
We all wonder if those cult Cabs will age, but there’s no doubt that this is a cellar guarantee. Cathy Corison makes her Cabs less ripe than many others, so the alcohol is lower and the acids and tannins are harder and drier. That’s in youth. But such is the depth of cherry, blackberry, cassis, cedar and mineral flavors and overall balance that this complex young…
— S.H.
(2/1/2008)