Corison Kronos Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2015

Professional Ratings

• 96 James Suckling

  Phenomenal aromas of dried flowers, pine nuts, bark, wet earth and currants. Boysenberries, too. Changes all the time. Peppermint tea, blue fruit and crushed stones. Full body with integrated and chewy tannins. Yet, so tight and refined. Shows a linear line through the center. An old-vine cab that needs two or three years to come together.

• 95 Wine Enthusiast

  This is among winemaker Cathy Corison's finest offerings, made from decades-old vines planted on St. George rootstock. Cassis, red currant and floral elements make for an inviting entry of aromatics that is followed by substantial structure and classic herbal undertones. A pillowy body of balanced elegance is met by an earthy, leathery finish of complex beauty.

• 94 Wine & Spirits

  This wine’s unpretentious beauty comes into focus over the course of several days. At first, it reflects the black-fruited ripeness of St. Helena fruit, soft, supple and clean. From there, it’s a slow build toward the complexity of fruit from Kronos’s deep-rooted vines—phylloxera survivors from 1971. The fruit moves through red notes of cranberries and cassis toward silky tannins that feel light and youthful. It’s a wine of classical proportions and simple grace.

• 94 Decanter

  Cathy Corison continues to coax ridiculously tiny yields of grapes from her 50-year-old Kronos Vineyard, and holds strong to her belief that overripeness wipes out varietal character. She harvests relatively early to preserve the leafy herb, cedar, tobacco leaf and blackcurrant character inherent in Cabernet grapes, and the result in this vintage is a wine with impeccable balance and longevity. 50% new French oak. Drinking Window 2021 - 2033

  
  

• 93 Wine Spectator

  A juicy, bright, slightly high-pitched style, with red currant, pomegranate and damson fruit notes laced with light graphite, anise and briar accents. The resulting contrast gives this a racy, distinctive feel. Lovely length. Best from 2021 through 2035.

• 92 Connoisseurs' Guide

  Those familiar with this winery will recognize Cathy Corison's slightly lighter touch with Cabernet here, but the wine sports considerable fruity depth with carefully placed accents of mildly creamy oak and loamy soil affording it a good deal of varietal complexity. It is full and slightly supple on entry with a proper push of firming tannins pointing the way to a promising future, and it sacrifices nothing in the way of richness or range while taking a measured step back from bombast. Let it sit for another four or five years and anticipate another half-decade or more of guaranteed growth from there.