2019 Corison, Sunbasket Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, California, USA
Critics reviews
The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Sunbasket Vineyard is such a gorgeous wine. It shows all of the exuberance of St. Helena in its open-knit, sensual personality. Silky tannins wrap around a core of crushed raspberry, rose petal, cinnamon and mocha. I am sure the 2019 will be even better in another few years' time, but it is, quite frankly, impossible to resist even in its youth. The Sunbasket has always been a forward wine. In 2019, it has an extra kick of energy and vitality.
Drink 2024 - 2039
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (January 2022)
I know it is only 0.1% or 0.2% higher in alcohol, but the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Sunbasket Vineyard comes across as the richest and ripest of Corison's 2019s, offering bold cassis fruit and hints of dark chocolate underscored by enlivening notes of mint. It's medium to full-bodied and a bit rounder on the palate but still harmonious and long on the finish, framed by silky tannins.
Drink 2022 - 2040
Joe Czerwinski, Wine Advocate (September 2022)
This is so fragrant with aromas of mulberries, plums, cherries, lavender, sage, dried herbs, dark chocolate, bark and spice box. It’s medium-to full-bodied with fine-grained tannins and fresh acidity. Crunchy and vibrant with a long, succulent finish. So attractive now but even better from 2023.
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (November 2021)
Just 350 cases
The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Sunbasket Vineyard, which comes from a site in St. Helena, reveals a saturated purple hue and many ripe currant and plum-like fruits supported by chocolate, violets, and leafy herbs. This rich, medium to full-bodied, mouth-filling Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the bigger, richer wines in the lineup and will impress for a solid 15-20 years.
Drink 2022 - 2042
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (March 2022)
About this WINE
Corison Winery
Corison Winery is a luminary in Napa Valley renowned for its elegant, balanced Cabernet Sauvignon. Founded in 1987 by pioneering winemaker Cathy Corison, the winery cultivates relationships with organically farmed vineyards in Rutherford and St. Helena, prioritising sustainability and environmental stewardship.
Corison wines are celebrated for their purity, complexity, and exceptional ageing potential. Characterised by vibrant fruit, moderate alcohol, and judicious oak influence, these wines exemplify Cathy Corison's minimalist approach, allowing the vineyard's true character to shine. Flagship offerings like the Corison Cabernet Sauvignon and Kronos Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon have earned acclaim for their harmonious structure and enduring quality.
Napa Valley
North Coast's Napa Valley is California's most famous viticultural area (AVA), claiming some of the most expensive agricultural land in the world and producing wines of ‘cult’ status.
Its 16,000 ha of vines lie over a strip (40 miles long-5 miles wide) of diverse soils (clay, gravely, volcanic), with its northernmost end on the side of Mountain Helena and its foot in San Francisco Bay. The valley is framed by two mountains ranges Vaca (to the north) and Mayacamas (to the south), yet the main climatic influence is the cool wind and fog that is sucked in from San Pablo Bay during the afternoon, allowing grapes to ripen slowly and evenly.
The area enjoys a variety of unique microclimates, as temperatures can vary dramatically as much as 15 degrees, from the north to the south end of the valley. These differences have led to the creation of several sub-AVAs (14 in total) including:
Atlas Peak, Chiles Valley District, Diamond Mountain District, Howell Mountain, Los Carneros, Mt. Veeder, Oakville, Rutherford, St. Helena, Spring Mountain District, Stags Leap District, Yountville, Wild Horse Valley and Oak Knoll District. The Calistoga AVA is still pending approval.
Both the “Napa Valley” designation and the sub-AVA name must appear on the wine label simultaneously, with the exception of wines from the Carneros AVA, which is shared between the Napa Valley and the Sonoma County.
Cabernet Sauvignon is the undisputed king of Napa grapes, occupying over 45% of the vineyard acreage, followed by (predominantly) Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Riesling, Zinfandel, Merlot, Cab. Franc and to a lesser extent Petite Sirah, Sangiovese, Barbera, Dolcetto.
Recommended Producers
Frog's Leap, Dominus, David Ramey, Viader, Stag's Leap Cellars, Paras Vineyards, Heitz.
Cabernet Sauvignon
The most famous red wine grape in the world and one of the most widely planted.
It is adaptable to a wide range of soils, although it performs particularly well on well-drained, low-fertile soils. It has small, dusty, black-blue berries with thick skins that produce deeply coloured, full-bodied wines with notable tannins. Its spiritual home is the Médoc and Graves regions of Bordeaux where it thrives on the well-drained gravel-rich soils producing tannic wines with piercing blackcurrant fruits that develop complex cedarwood and cigar box nuances when fully mature.
The grape is widely planted in California where Cabernet Sauvignon based wines are distinguished by their rich mixture of cassis, mint, eucalyptus and vanilla oak. It is planted across Australia and with particular success in Coonawarra where it is suited to the famed Terra Rossa soil. In Italy barrique aged Cabernet Sauvignon is a key component in Super Tuscans such as Tignanello and Sassicaia, either on its own or as part of a blend with Sangiovese.
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Description
The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Sunbasket Vineyard is such a gorgeous wine. It shows all of the exuberance of St. Helena in its open-knit, sensual personality. Silky tannins wrap around a core of crushed raspberry, rose petal, cinnamon and mocha. I am sure the 2019 will be even better in another few years' time, but it is, quite frankly, impossible to resist even in its youth. The Sunbasket has always been a forward wine. In 2019, it has an extra kick of energy and vitality.
Drink 2024 - 2039
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (January 2022)
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