2013 Corison, Cabernet Sauvignon, Kronos Vineyard, Napa Valley.
Cathy Corison’s 2013 Cabernets are both blockbuster examples of pure Napa Valley fruit from a stellar vintage that stands out for powerfully dense and opulent wines that has amazing classic aging ability, but with gorgeous openness and ripe tannin, especially the latest Kronos, a monopole estate vineyard near Saint Helena on Hwy 29 that is a historic old vine site. The 2012 was a brilliant and strikingly focused wine, but this 2013 really shows the year in it’s texture, density and length, while remaining faithful to Corison’s signature style and graceful touch with structured detail and balance, this wine joins the very best of Napa, maybe cracking the top five, in my opinion, without question this Kronos Cabernet looks like a bargain compared to the wines it performs against, many of which sell for three times as much! Corison’s Kronos and Celia Welch’s Corra both deliver, in particular these 2013’s, the best bang for the buck in the this super elite class of wines. The 2013 Corison Kronos Cabernet Sauvignon starts with it’s inky purple/black and garnet color and bouquet of acacia bloom, spiced violets, creme de cassis, cinnamon/vanilla and cedar that leads to a full bodied palate that is wonderfully seamless with polished/ripe/sweet tannin and mouth filling richness and intensity of black fruits with blackberry, plum, racy currant, blueberry and cherry compote as well as light graphite, sage/lavender, pipe tobacco, dusty/stone. The finish is sublimely lingering with bramble/briar berries, framboise, dried roses/incense and black licorice. This is wildly good wine, a celebration of vintage and terroir with stunning concentration, it’s a testament to the place, the winemaking and attention to excellence in the vineyard, this is pretty close to perfection! Every time I taste Cathy Corison’s wines I am left with a new sense of wonder and excitement, and these 2013’s are not wines to miss out on, with the Kronos looking set to have a very long life ahead of it, it without question will reward the patient as well as the hedonistic lovers of youthful wines, best from 2020 to 2035.
($175 Est.) 97 Points, grapelive

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