Winemaker Notes
The 2017 speaks eloquently of its growing season with dense, rich, layered dark fruit flavors including black raspberries, dried cherries, dark plums, cassis and boysenberries, set off by the snappy natural acidity that is a hallmark of Corison Cabernets. It is wildly complex, with baking spice and anise notes joining dried Herbs de Provence and hints of peppermint. Floral perfume is already in evidence with rose petals, violets and lavender chiming in. It feels like silk velvet on the palate.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
From benchland vineyards, the winemaker's perennial beauty of a wine is structured, evolved, graceful and complex, with powerful floral aromatics of rose and violet. Earthy and herbal, it tastes of rock and iron, with bright underlying invitations of cassis, tangy cherry and plum. This will do well in the cellar; enjoy best from 2027 through 2030.
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James Suckling
A succulent red with currants and fine, lightly dusty tannins. Medium to full body. Cedar and hazelnuts at the finish. Extremely refined and delicious. Drink now or hold.
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Wine Spectator
A very fresh, pure, high-toned style, offering a pure, almost distilled essence of damson plum, black cherry and raspberry fruit laced with floral and black tea notes. Darkens up a little on the finish, with a lingering hint of wood spice. An alluring wine. Drink now through 2034.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon slowly unfurls to reveal a beautiful nose of warm redcurrants, black raspberries and blackcurrant pastilles with an undercurrent of violets, fragrant soil and cinnamon stick. The medium-bodied palate is elegant and refreshing, delivering elegantly styled and yet wonderfully vibrant red and black fruits flavors, finishing with an energetic herbal lift. Rating : 92+
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Wine & Spirits
A tense wine that needs time to unwind, this is based on western benchland fruit farmed and harvested for lithe elegance rather than effusive power. At first, it gives little aside from rose scents and some sappy rosewood notes. The fruit comes later as the tannins relent, offering black-raspberry and black-currant flavors that are clean and clear. Cathy Corison takes a long view on her cabernet, building finely structured wines to cellar.
One of the most prestigious wines of the world capable of great power and grace, Napa Valley Cabernet is a leading force in the world of fine, famous, collectible red wine. Today the Napa Valley and Cabernet Sauvignon are so intrinsically linked that it is difficult to discuss one without the other. But it wasn’t until the 1970s that this marriage came to light; sudden international recognition rained upon Napa with the victory of the Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon in the 1976 Judgement of Paris.
Cabernet Sauvignon undoubtedly dominates Napa Valley today, covering half of the land under vine, commanding the highest prices per ton and earning the most critical acclaim. Cabernet Sauvignon’s structure, acidity, capacity to thrive in multiple environs and ability to express nuances of vintage make it perfect for Napa Valley where incredible soil and geographical diversity are found and the climate is perfect for grape growing. Within the Napa Valley lie many smaller sub-AVAs that express specific characteristics based on situation, slope and soil—as a perfect example, Rutherford’s famous dust or Stags Leap District's tart cherry flavors.