Thick dark maroon. Earth, dark berries, and cedar nose. Medium bodied, plum, blueberries, herbs and spices, perfect tannins, graphite, good acid, and a long delicious finish. Best on day 2. Lots of sediment.
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Wine needs filtering. Lots of sediment. Wonderful aroma as you decant. Wonderful at first glass, but after breathing an hour it really smoothed out. Wonderful fruit with great balance. It is drinking fantastic right now.
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Mighty fine Cabernet. Full on the nose, with eucalyptus, woodsmoke, dark berries and cocoa. Wonderful on the palate, feeling light and fairly fresh but with immense flavour intensity - espresso and blackcurrant coulis, mmm. Ridiculously long finish, too. Yes.
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Excellent terroir-driven Cab. Cathy makes such good wine, expressing what Napa is capable of, but which is too infrequently realized. Well integrated with some mint and floral notes on entry, cherry kirsch, blackberry and other dark fruit mid-palate, and orange bitters, cardamom and a hint of licorice on the finish, with moderate acidity and polished tannins that have just a nice bit of grip. In an excellent drinking window.
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Consistent notes. Riper than I expected. But beautiful. No etoh. Tannins nearly resolved but expect to hold for years. Acid in balance. Fruit clean and finish long.
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By Coravin at The Kitchen Table, London. Has the feeling of what we call perfect yet boring . It is a cool climate wine , with perfectly mature fruit and al around smooth and silky. But the perfection in its grape selection robs this of an exciting and complex side too. 91
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Vinturied into decant, mature now. Still showing well with more fruit than oak, it has a few good years left but I’d drink now. This wine drinks better in its youthful stage at appx 7-10years IMO. Drink now thru 2023/5
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Fine , soft, mellow and well balanced cab. Black berries and current with cool tannins. First open, complex flavors moving me to think like the old world style reds. Later with decant, smooth and silky, fruit forward, rich and full bodied for sure. Orange colored with a bit more rusty as this is 15 years old. Color is very much different than the 2012 one I tried few months earlier. The 2012 came with much darker purple color.
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Cellared properly since delivery from vineyard. Plum notes on the opening with black pepper finish. I think it needs another few years surprisingly. Another enjoyable wine from Cathy
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This was stored properly following delivery from the winery, cork was good. Unfortunately, the wine was not. Well over the hill, disjointed, old mushroomy. No hope here. WTF?
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Cathy corison is known for restrained cabs in the land of overripeness. Incredible to me that this wine is still so ripe. Still has years to go. Very enjoyable despite my football team losing.
Continued to improve for 3+ hrs. Really beautiful wine. But still too young.
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Drinking well, with currant and dark cherry fruit in a medium bodied frame with some harmonious herbal/shroomy notes more on the periphery at present. On the claret side of Napa to be sure, some might find the middle of the wine underwhelming. Decanted one hour. 91 for me last night but drinking outside as it got chilly flattened the nose by a point or two. Drink now - ~2025.
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Not much to add to other positive reviews here. A little brown, a little cloudy. The nose is a little mushroomy. But the taste is so pure - blueberries, plums, smoke, sweet fully integrated tannins, spice, graphite, good acid, and a long finish. I'm not sure this particular bottle had much longer to live, so I'm glad I opened it. YMMV.
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Another relatively cool vintage according to Cathy and this wine was just short of the ’01 and might get there with time. Again that fresh violet crunch and great complexity on the finish with notes of mint and cassis. Balanced, fresh and beautiful. 95+
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A fantastic cab! Luxurious and languid, both nice and naughty! Smooth, seductive raspberry and bilberry with a puff of smoke upfront, then a little slap of leather on the tail end.
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drank at WINO dinner. Best bottle of the night for me. Elegant terroir driven wine with dark berry and mineral notes. Standard for Cathy, always an excellent choice if you not looking for over-extracted Napa fruit. Much more French style to this wine.
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Purchased direct from the winery in 2013. Decanted an hour, if that. Everyone knows Cathy Corison builds them for the long haul but this wine was so good I'm not sure why there's any reason to wait. Maybe it will continue to soar to new heights but, for me, it's too good to pass up. Fragrant bouquet, softened tannins, long, deep finish. Enjoyed with friends and good, rich food which is what this Cab deserves. I have trouble rating wines this good and rarely go beyond 94-95 so I'll just put it there. All hail the Queen.
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Deep, mysterious and deftly balanced, this is early days for the 2005 Corison Cabernet, but despite its youth the wine drinks very well. It has a roundness on the palate, excellent mid-palate richness, and no hardness at all to the tannins. It's certainly drinking well now with rich food (I had it with beef stew), but the balance and richness promises many years of development.
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Decanted for 2 hours. Similar to the 2004 with mature yet sweet red fruit the 05 gets some additional lift from the season bringing freshness with slightly bolder black/blue fruit. Backing this is plenty of earth, cigar box, eucalyptus, and mint. The tannins continued to build and firm up over the night. Needs many more years in bottle.
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In the set of '04, '06 this has the most tobacco leaf and sous bois. Gun smoke.
Palate has those characteristics as well, the fruit is there but there is definately a savory side at this point. Wonder where this goes as time goes on as the fruit is still up.
50% new oak, and then 50% once used barrels.
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Blueberry jam and a touch of oak on the nose. Blueberry, tobacco and hint of mint on the palette. Elegant wine drinking beautifully now. Not sure it will improve much with age but certainly has 2-3 years left in it.
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The wine has medium acidity. It smells like clove, blackberry, orange, black currant (cassis) and alcohol/hot. The body is medium. The wine finishes medium. It tastes like blackberry, mineral, toast and alcohol/hot. The wine looks purple colored. The legs are medium. There is no sediment in the bottle. The wine has round texture.
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had with dinner so no formal notes, but this was drinking beautifully. Perfectly balanced with plenty of fruit and just the right amount of tannin and acidity. Going strong and showing no signs of fading
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Beautiful is the word! Nothing intrusive but everything is in harmony, and it sings harmony not only by itself but with everything else on the dinner table. Velvety tannin and just the right amount of acidity frame up beautifully concentrated fruit. As it evolves in the glass, it does not skip a beat in balance and elegance til the very end. Graceful finish just lingers and lingers...
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Cathy Corison's wines at Arlequin (Arlequin SF): Medium red, moderate plus concentration. The nose shows signs of age: Some dark fruits, but mostly sweet stewed tamales, hint of savory stewed ripe bell pepper character. Sweet tobacco, slightly oxidative in nature. In the mouth, classic Corison: Medium body, medium alcohol [also 13.6%], excellent savory sweet-tobacco and cedar midpalate aromatics with a hint of Brett and some dusty wood spice (smells like faint fine-grained freshly-sanded wood to me) [French oak, 50% new]. Elevated acid and plush moderate-intensity tannins. Reminiscent of a the ’95 York Creek, but softer, plusher, slightly more youthful, and less pastiche - this is elegant and developing beautifully. Long finish. Score: Between 9 and 9.5 $125
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By the glass at Hawksmoor Knightsbridge. Not sure how it was kept/preserved or when the bottle was opened. No apparent flaws. On the sweet and ripe, well extracted side. Touch of raisins too and felt on the generic side tbh. 86
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dusty oaky notes - very rutherford/st helena bench. currants and dense dark red fruits. Drinking well now, but will last several more years, not much improvement left, or really needed.
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Dark and dense, with a powerful core of cassis, plums, and dusty soil notes. On the palate, more red currant comes out, framed by firm tannins and excellent spicy/dusty notes. There's such impeccable balance here that I couldn't stop sniffing my glass then taking small sips. It just tastes special. On the finish there are cherries and black plums bursting with acidity. Just wonderful.
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Corison (at the winery): Distinct leather nose, the black currants I find in all Corisons wines, more freshness than the 2006, while also more age and complexity, the edges have been sandpapered down to silky texture on this one. Drinking beautifully now, not sure why you would save this for many more years unless you sit on a full case.
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Fabulous stuff, quite tight and sooty/black-fruited at first, opens up a good deal after an hour and sings after 4. Drinking really well right now, but it has impeccable balance and should sail along easily for 10+ years, developing for cigar and soil aspects. Only 13.6% alc, this is old-school-ripe, with a refreshing, almost tart quality to the fruit, even though it is fully ripe and not actually tart. Cassis, raspberry, plum, dark chocolate, cigar, slightly leafy, and silky smooth--probably thanks to the long growing season in 05. My kind of cab.
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Concentrated, currant, smoke and sweet spice nose. Full bodied and focused with sweet-centered fruit, ripe, distinct tannins and a very long, curranty finish. 5/5
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Napa Valley Wine and Food Excursion 2013; 9/30/2013-10/5/2013 (Napa Valley, California): This deep-to-opaque ruby wine is a nice combination of power and refinement. It shows a complex array of dark berry aromas and flavors, with a supporting cast of ganache, pickling spice, dried herbs and pipe tobacco. The wine is full-bodied, with fresh acidity, medium sweet tannins and well-integrated alcohol (13.6%). Unfolding nicely in the middle, the flavors hang on throughout a very long finish. This wine has the structure to drink well for at least another decade. Drink now-2023.
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Have you been reading about the California renaissance in progress? A return to elegance, finesse, terroir etc? It never left at Corison, and this is ample proof. Ripe, yet refined, everything in balance and showing both generosity and restraint. Attractive mineral-flecked blackberry fruit, hints of resiny pine and/or mint, medium to full bodied with gentle but firm tannins. It was consumed over two nights and if anything got better and better with every glass.
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Dark purple with dark fruit aromas and some minty notes. Wine opened up quickly to reveal blackberry and cassis with some herbal notes and sufficient acidity to carry the wine nicely. Tannins were smooth and well integrated. Long finish.
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Lightweight. On the first day, cedar and pepper and a hint of dark fruit - went well with food a bit austere on its own. The 2nd day it opened and the fruit blossomed - a little sweeter and stronger. This clearly has a long life ahead. Would let it aerate/decant for sometime before drinking if drinking now.
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Napa Valley winery visits April 26: Complex aromas- floral, melted rock, black tea, tobacco, red currant. Rich and regal on the palate with plenty of currant and other dark fruit with integrated depth of cedar-tobacco-tea leaf notes. Layered, complex and elegant. Rich polished tannins and notes of spice on the finish. Good length. A pretty wine- showing well. 93+
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This is a beautiful bottle from Cathy Corison! The nose had a nice full aroma of dark cherry and plum that didn't overpower. The mouth was full of dark fruit but still silky and smooth. This is in a pretty good spot right now! I didn't decant but had the bottle open for 90 minutes prior to drinking. Drink now to 2016.
After reading what MB Ben wrote, I decanted it. Jan & I tried a glass not decanted and one decanted. He was right, straight from the bottle it was a little tight all the way through from nose to finish. Decanted, it was excellent. The legs on this were very nice, unusually slow with complex patterns (yes, I still look at the legs). The color was a beautiful clear ruby. It was fruit forward with dark cherry, fig and hints of something like liquorice. This was a medium, nearly full bodied wine. Very well balanced and silky at mid palate. The finish was mid-length. This paired well with Chicken La Venezia and Chicken Portabella.
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Classic, elegant, balanced Cabernet for Corison lovers. Still a little early to drink. I popped and poured at a BYO restaurant and it was a little tight and tannic initially. An hour decant would probably do the trick or wait another year or two. The 2004 in contrast is really ready to go right now.
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Extremely well balanced acidity and tannins. Warm fig jam on the nose and a hint of earth. flavors of ripe plums and cherries with a refreshing zest at first sip that rounded out nicely, and had a long elegant finish. Paired well with duck rillette with fig jam and lardo mousse.
Really like this. Have had several vintages, and this might be my favorite. Really nice on the nose, quite a bit of fruit (red fruits), with a lot of finesse and a good finish. Not huge and deep, but really elegant.
color: medium-dark purple; nose: a little oak -- but not much, even having opened it for three hours; taste: medium-bodied mouth feel, delicious deep plum taste with notes of chocolate and licorice, long complex finish; overall: delicious, despite its aromatic deficit
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Yeah Corison! I love these wines! Very dark red with aromas of red cherries. We decanted this and tasted red cherries and plum. The wine evolved with time and air. It was very elegant and had soft tannins.
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this was part of a vertical, 2000, 2004, 2004 kronos, and 2005. They are all good, but not ready to drink quite. This was my favorite tasting one, although the older ones are of course mellower. these are good wines. never had a bad or even mediocre one.
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Cabs and Flannery (my place): nose: more classically styled cabernet then what had preceeded it with well balanced tones of tobacco, black cherries, spice tones, herbs, bits of mint and some dark red cherries and red currants. Great depth and polish, comes across as a much more elegant cab then the maybach or karl lawrence
taste: great full body with good tannins and well balanced tones of tobacco, black cherries, herbs, red currants and dark red cherries. Excellent depth and purity that flows well at this young stage
overall: this certainly needs a bit more time, but has the ability to be a real beauty of a cabernet. It was fun having this after the Karl Lawrence and Maybach as it was more reserved and elegant, while the others had a bigger style to them
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Black fruits on the nose, also black licorice, flowers. Restrained in its approach, but still lush and rife with blackberry, black plum, black cherry. Airy, floral, and herbal, this leaves quite an impression without being (exactly) heavy. Open-knit and generous.
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Expedition Wines American Homegrown: nose: very expressive nose with plush tones of red currants, red cherries, black currants, cedar, and berry tones
taste: good full body feel with big tannins and really good tones of red cherries, black currants, cedar tones and bits of berries
overall: a beautiful and lush cabernet. Good polish and a beautiful feel lurks beneath the big tannins on this wine and it should emerge beautifully in a few years and become a real knockout of a wine
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Herbal nose, with black licorice and black plum. Soft and feminine flavors have a distinctively earthy edge. This is compact and balanced, alternatively dark and soft. The fruit is acidic, deep; red and black plums, red cherries, the fruit finishing cleanly. Balanced and beautiful, and remarkably elegant.
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3/25/2024 - merryberry Likes this wine: 93 Points
Thick dark maroon. Earth, dark berries, and cedar nose. Medium bodied, plum, blueberries, herbs and spices, perfect tannins, graphite, good acid, and a long delicious finish. Best on day 2. Lots of sediment.
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6/15/2023 - paulst Likes this wine: 93 Points
Light, easy elegant yet supple; nice cherry and blueberry; elegant finish.
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6/6/2023 - PolarBear22 wrote: 94 Points
Wine needs filtering. Lots of sediment. Wonderful aroma as you decant. Wonderful at first glass, but after breathing an hour it really smoothed out. Wonderful fruit with great balance. It is drinking fantastic right now.
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1/31/2023 - NickA Likes this wine: 94 Points
Mighty fine Cabernet. Full on the nose, with eucalyptus, woodsmoke, dark berries and cocoa. Wonderful on the palate, feeling light and fairly fresh but with immense flavour intensity - espresso and blackcurrant coulis, mmm. Ridiculously long finish, too. Yes.
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10/23/2022 - lifebreath wrote: 93 Points
Excellent terroir-driven Cab. Cathy makes such good wine, expressing what Napa is capable of, but which is too infrequently realized. Well integrated with some mint and floral notes on entry, cherry kirsch, blackberry and other dark fruit mid-palate, and orange bitters, cardamom and a hint of licorice on the finish, with moderate acidity and polished tannins that have just a nice bit of grip. In an excellent drinking window.
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9/17/2022 - texaswinelover wrote:
Consistent notes. Riper than I expected. But beautiful. No etoh. Tannins nearly resolved but expect to hold for years. Acid in balance. Fruit clean and finish long.
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8/18/2022 - wino121 wrote: flawed
Past prime by 5 years.
Drained it
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4/1/2022 - Papies wrote: 91 Points
By Coravin at The Kitchen Table, London.
Has the feeling of what we call perfect yet boring . It is a cool climate wine , with perfectly mature fruit and al around smooth and silky. But the perfection in its grape selection robs this of an exciting and complex side too. 91
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11/7/2021 - Mehul Desai Likes this wine: 93 Points
Still very young with tight tannins. Very well structured. Open for a couple of hours before drinking. Will keep for a long time.
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10/16/2021 - wino121 wrote: 91 Points
Vinturied into decant, mature now.
Still showing well with more fruit than oak, it has a few good years left but I’d drink now.
This wine drinks better in its youthful stage at appx 7-10years IMO.
Drink now thru 2023/5
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1/15/2021 - GiantRam Likes this wine: 94 Points
Fine , soft, mellow and well balanced cab. Black berries and current with cool tannins. First open, complex flavors moving me to think like the old world style reds. Later with decant, smooth and silky, fruit forward, rich and full bodied for sure. Orange colored with a bit more rusty as this is 15 years old. Color is very much different than the 2012 one I tried few months earlier. The 2012 came with much darker purple color.
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12/11/2020 - Rlum25 Likes this wine: 89 Points
Cellared properly since delivery from vineyard.
Plum notes on the opening with black pepper finish. I think it needs another few years surprisingly. Another enjoyable wine from Cathy
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11/7/2020 - timtom Likes this wine: 93 Points
Dark plum and tobacco. Very dry. Luscious.
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7/16/2020 - urbanhick wrote: 88 Points
A little plumy with stewed fruit. Needed a bit of time to open up but wasn't as full as I expected. Still a solid wine, but a little disappointing.
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5/7/2020 - ekirby Does not like this wine: 84 Points
This was stored properly following delivery from the winery, cork was good. Unfortunately, the wine was not. Well over the hill, disjointed, old mushroomy. No hope here. WTF?
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11/23/2019 - texaswinelover wrote:
Cathy corison is known for restrained cabs in the land of overripeness. Incredible to me that this wine is still so ripe. Still has years to go. Very enjoyable despite my football team losing.
Continued to improve for 3+ hrs. Really beautiful wine. But still too young.
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10/20/2019 - Diane (LI) wrote:
Fruit is receding, tannins are softening. An elegant Napa cab.
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7/15/2019 - silton Likes this wine:
Drinking well, with currant and dark cherry fruit in a medium bodied frame with some harmonious herbal/shroomy notes more on the periphery at present. On the claret side of Napa to be sure, some might find the middle of the wine underwhelming. Decanted one hour. 91 for me last night but drinking outside as it got chilly flattened the nose by a point or two. Drink now - ~2025.
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4/13/2019 - paulst Likes this wine: 94 Points
Sweet raspberry and blueberry; initially coarse then smoothed and balanced with sweet blackberry-raspberry finish.
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10/20/2018 - lifebreath wrote: 92 Points
In a great drinking window. Nice primary fruit and well structured with old-world influence.
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10/6/2018 - merryberry Likes this wine: 92 Points
Not much to add to other positive reviews here. A little brown, a little cloudy. The nose is a little mushroomy. But the taste is so pure - blueberries, plums, smoke, sweet fully integrated tannins, spice, graphite, good acid, and a long finish. I'm not sure this particular bottle had much longer to live, so I'm glad I opened it. YMMV.
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5/4/2018 - MLR Likes this wine: 90 Points
Classic Cabernet with firm tannins, medium mouth feel and jammy fruit. There is some sense of green or black olives in the mouth also.
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3/9/2018 - dream Likes this wine: 95 Points
Another relatively cool vintage according to Cathy and this wine was just short of the ’01 and might get there with time. Again that fresh violet crunch and great complexity on the finish with notes of mint and cassis. Balanced, fresh and beautiful. 95+
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2/14/2018 - LASF Likes this wine: 94 Points
A fantastic cab! Luxurious and languid, both nice and naughty! Smooth, seductive raspberry and bilberry with a puff of smoke upfront, then a little slap of leather on the tail end.
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11/5/2017 - floating_cellar wrote: 94 Points
drank at WINO dinner. Best bottle of the night for me. Elegant terroir driven wine with dark berry and mineral notes. Standard for Cathy, always an excellent choice if you not looking for over-extracted Napa fruit. Much more French style to this wine.
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3/18/2017 - Presidio Wine Bunker Likes this wine: 94 Points
Purchased direct from the winery in 2013. Decanted an hour, if that. Everyone knows Cathy Corison builds them for the long haul but this wine was so good I'm not sure why there's any reason to wait. Maybe it will continue to soar to new heights but, for me, it's too good to pass up. Fragrant bouquet, softened tannins, long, deep finish. Enjoyed with friends and good, rich food which is what this Cab deserves. I have trouble rating wines this good and rarely go beyond 94-95 so I'll just put it there. All hail the Queen.
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1/8/2017 - Rieslingfan wrote:
Deep, mysterious and deftly balanced, this is early days for the 2005 Corison Cabernet, but despite its youth the wine drinks very well. It has a roundness on the palate, excellent mid-palate richness, and no hardness at all to the tannins. It's certainly drinking well now with rich food (I had it with beef stew), but the balance and richness promises many years of development.
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11/12/2016 - East of Napa wrote: 89 Points
A little too earthy for me
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4/17/2016 - MAXIMUM SATISFACTION wrote: 92 Points
Decanted for 2 hours. Similar to the 2004 with mature yet sweet red fruit the 05 gets some additional lift from the season bringing freshness with slightly bolder black/blue fruit. Backing this is plenty of earth, cigar box, eucalyptus, and mint. The tannins continued to build and firm up over the night. Needs many more years in bottle.
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2/25/2016 - nm10 Likes this wine: 96 Points
Wonderfully balanced! An underrated and underreviewed wine. Cassis, blueberries, pepper and licorice. 40 second finish. Delicious!
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1/14/2016 - Ben Christiansen wrote:
In the set of '04, '06 this has the most tobacco leaf and sous bois. Gun smoke.
Palate has those characteristics as well, the fruit is there but there is definately a savory side at this point. Wonder where this goes as time goes on as the fruit is still up.
50% new oak, and then 50% once used barrels.
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11/25/2015 - lifebreath wrote: 90 Points
Previous note applies, but with some bramble and pepper notes.
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10/3/2015 - Grateful Bear wrote: 92 Points
Blueberry jam and a touch of oak on the nose. Blueberry, tobacco and hint of mint on the palette. Elegant wine drinking beautifully now. Not sure it will improve much with age but certainly has 2-3 years left in it.
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9/5/2015 - david4061 wrote: 93 Points
The wine has medium acidity. It smells like clove, blackberry, orange, black currant (cassis) and alcohol/hot. The body is medium. The wine finishes medium. It tastes like blackberry, mineral, toast and alcohol/hot. The wine looks purple colored. The legs are medium. There is no sediment in the bottle. The wine has round texture.
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6/29/2015 - wiscgrad wrote: 95 Points
had with dinner so no formal notes, but this was drinking beautifully. Perfectly balanced with plenty of fruit and just the right amount of tannin and acidity. Going strong and showing no signs of fading
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6/7/2015 - Kukeymon Likes this wine: 95 Points
Beautiful is the word! Nothing intrusive but everything is in harmony, and it sings harmony not only by itself but with everything else on the dinner table. Velvety tannin and just the right amount of acidity frame up beautifully concentrated fruit. As it evolves in the glass, it does not skip a beat in balance and elegance til the very end. Graceful finish just lingers and lingers...
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6/2/2015 - floating_cellar wrote: 95 Points
Fantastic bottle, if you can find Cathy's wines, buy them! Classicly beautiful at 13.5% and very concentrated flavors.
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5/28/2015 - RajivAyyangar wrote: 92 Points
Cathy Corison's wines at Arlequin (Arlequin SF): Medium red, moderate plus concentration. The nose shows signs of age: Some dark fruits, but mostly sweet stewed tamales, hint of savory stewed ripe bell pepper character. Sweet tobacco, slightly oxidative in nature.
In the mouth, classic Corison:
Medium body, medium alcohol [also 13.6%], excellent savory sweet-tobacco and cedar midpalate aromatics with a hint of Brett and some dusty wood spice (smells like faint fine-grained freshly-sanded wood to me) [French oak, 50% new]. Elevated acid and plush moderate-intensity tannins. Reminiscent of a the ’95 York Creek, but softer, plusher, slightly more youthful, and less pastiche - this is elegant and developing beautifully. Long finish.
Score: Between 9 and 9.5
$125
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3/10/2015 - paulst Likes this wine: 91 Points
Still young and tannic; earthy and light cherry-raisen; still forming; light finish with some mocha.
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2/16/2015 - redsonly wrote: 93 Points
Nearly all I can wish for in a cab. Drinking beautifully.
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2/12/2015 - Papies wrote: 86 Points
By the glass at Hawksmoor Knightsbridge. Not sure how it was kept/preserved or when the bottle was opened. No apparent flaws.
On the sweet and ripe, well extracted side. Touch of raisins too and felt on the generic side tbh. 86
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11/30/2014 - nrccpro wrote: 85 Points
Easy drinking, not so much complexity.
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8/24/2014 - BayAreaWildcat wrote: 93 Points
dusty oaky notes - very rutherford/st helena bench. currants and dense dark red fruits. Drinking well now, but will last several more years, not much improvement left, or really needed.
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8/15/2014 - ucbeau Likes this wine:
Dark and dense, with a powerful core of cassis, plums, and dusty soil notes. On the palate, more red currant comes out, framed by firm tannins and excellent spicy/dusty notes. There's such impeccable balance here that I couldn't stop sniffing my glass then taking small sips. It just tastes special. On the finish there are cherries and black plums bursting with acidity. Just wonderful.
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7/19/2014 - Omar Khayyam Likes this wine: 92 Points
Corison (at the winery): Distinct leather nose, the black currants I find in all Corisons wines, more freshness than the 2006, while also more age and complexity, the edges have been sandpapered down to silky texture on this one. Drinking beautifully now, not sure why you would save this for many more years unless you sit on a full case.
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1/25/2014 - yofog wrote: 93 Points
Fabulous stuff, quite tight and sooty/black-fruited at first, opens up a good deal after an hour and sings after 4. Drinking really well right now, but it has impeccable balance and should sail along easily for 10+ years, developing for cigar and soil aspects. Only 13.6% alc, this is old-school-ripe, with a refreshing, almost tart quality to the fruit, even though it is fully ripe and not actually tart. Cassis, raspberry, plum, dark chocolate, cigar, slightly leafy, and silky smooth--probably thanks to the long growing season in 05. My kind of cab.
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12/29/2013 - Zed57 wrote: 91 Points
Really good but will reward 3+ yrs
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11/30/2013 - SDP Likes this wine: 95 Points
Simply amazing !
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11/28/2013 - BigTex22 Likes this wine: 94 Points
Outstanding. Drank for Thanksgiving. EXCELLENT.
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10/14/2013 - Jhcwine Likes this wine: 91 Points
Tasted crom retail argon bar. Nose - minimal. Palate - thinner than the 2010 Togni I tasted alongside it. But tannins still unbalanced.
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10/1/2013 - Double-A Likes this wine: 95 Points
Concentrated, currant, smoke and sweet spice nose. Full bodied and focused with sweet-centered fruit, ripe, distinct tannins and a very long, curranty finish.
5/5
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10/1/2013 - La Cave d'Argent Likes this wine: 92 Points
Napa Valley Wine and Food Excursion 2013; 9/30/2013-10/5/2013 (Napa Valley, California): This deep-to-opaque ruby wine is a nice combination of power and refinement. It shows a complex array of dark berry aromas and flavors, with a supporting cast of ganache, pickling spice, dried herbs and pipe tobacco. The wine is full-bodied, with fresh acidity, medium sweet tannins and well-integrated alcohol (13.6%). Unfolding nicely in the middle, the flavors hang on throughout a very long finish. This wine has the structure to drink well for at least another decade. Drink now-2023.
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8/11/2013 - bevetroppo Likes this wine: 92 Points
Have you been reading about the California renaissance in progress? A return to elegance, finesse, terroir etc? It never left at Corison, and this is ample proof. Ripe, yet refined, everything in balance and showing both generosity and restraint. Attractive mineral-flecked blackberry fruit, hints of resiny pine and/or mint, medium to full bodied with gentle but firm tannins. It was consumed over two nights and if anything got better and better with every glass.
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8/11/2013 - lifebreath wrote: 91 Points
Dark purple with dark fruit aromas and some minty notes. Wine opened up quickly to reveal blackberry and cassis with some herbal notes and sufficient acidity to carry the wine nicely. Tannins were smooth and well integrated. Long finish.
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7/16/2013 - plechazunga Likes this wine:
Lightweight. On the first day, cedar and pepper and a hint of dark fruit - went well with food a bit austere on its own. The 2nd day it opened and the fruit blossomed - a little sweeter and stronger. This clearly has a long life ahead. Would let it aerate/decant for sometime before drinking if drinking now.
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6/18/2013 - Blauweiss Likes this wine: 93 Points
Beautiful complex classic cabernet sauvignon. Rich, with mocca, licorice, cassis, leadpencil. Long, and lasting, great stuff!
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5/12/2013 - pagejshawjr wrote: 92 Points
Just a beautiful and elegantly bold wine. Lots of sweet tannins. Needs several hours to open up. Tasted great the next day.
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5/9/2013 - MattMauldin wrote: 93 Points
Napa Valley winery visits April 26: Complex aromas- floral, melted rock, black tea, tobacco, red currant. Rich and regal on the palate with plenty of currant and other dark fruit with integrated depth of cedar-tobacco-tea leaf notes. Layered, complex and elegant. Rich polished tannins and notes of spice on the finish. Good length. A pretty wine- showing well. 93+
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4/14/2013 - NEwino Likes this wine: 93 Points
This is a beautiful bottle from Cathy Corison! The nose had a nice full aroma of dark cherry and plum that didn't overpower. The mouth was full of dark fruit but still silky and smooth. This is in a pretty good spot right now! I didn't decant but had the bottle open for 90 minutes prior to drinking. Drink now to 2016.
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3/28/2013 - AlphaL Likes this wine: 93 Points
After reading what MB Ben wrote, I decanted it. Jan & I tried a glass not decanted and one decanted. He was right, straight from the bottle it was a little tight all the way through from nose to finish. Decanted, it was excellent. The legs on this were very nice, unusually slow with complex patterns (yes, I still look at the legs). The color was a beautiful clear ruby. It was fruit forward with dark cherry, fig and hints of something like liquorice. This was a medium, nearly full bodied wine. Very well balanced and silky at mid palate. The finish was mid-length. This paired well with Chicken La Venezia and Chicken Portabella.
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11/2/2012 - MB Ben wrote:
Classic, elegant, balanced Cabernet for Corison lovers. Still a little early to drink. I popped and poured at a BYO restaurant and it was a little tight and tannic initially. An hour decant would probably do the trick or wait another year or two. The 2004 in contrast is really ready to go right now.
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10/21/2012 - Lychee wrote: 91 Points
Extremely well balanced acidity and tannins. Warm fig jam on the nose and a hint of earth. flavors of ripe plums and cherries with a refreshing zest at first sip that rounded out nicely, and had a long elegant finish. Paired well with duck rillette with fig jam and lardo mousse.
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5/27/2012 - spv wrote: 94 Points
Really like this. Have had several vintages, and this might be my favorite. Really nice on the nose, quite a bit of fruit (red fruits), with a lot of finesse and a good finish. Not huge and deep, but really elegant.
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5/5/2012 - ub40guy wrote: 91 Points
Elegantly styled cabernet, with a smooth, silky approach. The depth of this wine began showing on day 2. Tasted beside 2004 Corison Kronos Vineyard.
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3/11/2012 - Epic Tale Likes this wine: 90 Points
color: medium-dark purple; nose: a little oak -- but not much, even having opened it for three hours; taste: medium-bodied mouth feel, delicious deep plum taste with notes of chocolate and licorice, long complex finish; overall: delicious, despite its aromatic deficit
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11/8/2011 - miller3324 wrote:
Classic Corison, beautifully balanced, understated, old school profile, drinking well now with a short decant but has a long life ahead
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10/11/2011 - miller3324 wrote: flawed
Corked unfortunately
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4/24/2011 - emf Likes this wine:
Yeah Corison! I love these wines! Very dark red with aromas of red cherries. We decanted this and tasted red cherries and plum. The wine evolved with time and air. It was very elegant and had soft tannins.
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11/28/2010 - mathwonk wrote:
this was part of a vertical, 2000, 2004, 2004 kronos, and 2005. They are all good, but not ready to drink quite. This was my favorite tasting one, although the older ones are of course mellower. these are good wines. never had a bad or even mediocre one.
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8/23/2009 - KeithAkers wrote: 93 Points
Cabs and Flannery (my place): nose: more classically styled cabernet then what had preceeded it with well balanced tones of tobacco, black cherries, spice tones, herbs, bits of mint and some dark red cherries and red currants. Great depth and polish, comes across as a much more elegant cab then the maybach or karl lawrence
taste: great full body with good tannins and well balanced tones of tobacco, black cherries, herbs, red currants and dark red cherries. Excellent depth and purity that flows well at this young stage
overall: this certainly needs a bit more time, but has the ability to be a real beauty of a cabernet. It was fun having this after the Karl Lawrence and Maybach as it was more reserved and elegant, while the others had a bigger style to them
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6/20/2009 - Gbasson wrote: 95 Points
Full bodied great wine Went well witht the steak dinner. Strong chocolate and cherries on the tongue
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5/9/2009 - FieldingYost wrote: 92 Points
Black fruits on the nose, also black licorice, flowers. Restrained in its approach, but still lush and rife with blackberry, black plum, black cherry. Airy, floral, and herbal, this leaves quite an impression without being (exactly) heavy. Open-knit and generous.
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3/30/2009 - KeithAkers wrote: 92 Points
Expedition Wines American Homegrown: nose: very expressive nose with plush tones of red currants, red cherries, black currants, cedar, and berry tones
taste: good full body feel with big tannins and really good tones of red cherries, black currants, cedar tones and bits of berries
overall: a beautiful and lush cabernet. Good polish and a beautiful feel lurks beneath the big tannins on this wine and it should emerge beautifully in a few years and become a real knockout of a wine
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10/25/2008 - FieldingYost wrote: 93 Points
Herbal nose, with black licorice and black plum. Soft and feminine flavors have a distinctively earthy edge. This is compact and balanced, alternatively dark and soft. The fruit is acidic, deep; red and black plums, red cherries, the fruit finishing cleanly. Balanced and beautiful, and remarkably elegant.
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