NAPA VALLEY CABERNET WITH POWER & ELEGANCE
Winegrower Cathy Corison produces artisanal, age-worthy Cabernet Sauvignon that speaks of place, sourcing great benchland vineyards between Rutherford and St. Helena. We invite you to experience a unique glimpse inside a small, family-owned working winery the next time you are in the Napa Valley.
In The Vineyard
Happy New Year! As the days get longer and we get busy pruning the vineyards, we thought you might be interested in learning more about Corison terroir. Our estate vineyards Kronos and Sunbasket, as well as the vineyards we source, are classic benchland sites on alluvial fans. Here is a schematic from the Napa Valley Vintners that illustrates this geological formation:
As the water flows down the mountains toward the Napa River, larger rocks and gravel drop out as the streams reach the valley floor, creating benchland. Progressively smaller particles fall out until the soils are dominated by clay near the river.
We lovingly call our benchland vineyards gravel pits! The vines set deep roots in these well-drained soils. As it rarely rains from May through October, the vines run out of water and stop growing at just the right time to focus on ripening the fruit. Kronos and Sunbasket Vineyards sing with the expression of their individual benchland terroir.
Six Winemakers Who Value Originality
Eric Asimov, The New York Times wine critic, includes Cathy Corison in his recent article, How the Most Delicious Wines Stay True to Themselves. He highlights “six producers who make glorious wines by following their own muse…The Corison wines are both of a time, and timeless.”
“My favorite wine producers look inward, not outward. They ask themselves, ‘How can I do my utmost to convey the character of this particular patch of earth?’ And they often conclude: ‘I’m going to make the wines that I like to drink. If nobody buys them, I’ll drink them myself.’”
Earth Day 2023
Big news! Cathy and William’s daughter Grace is leading the charge to finalize organic certification in our estate Kronos and Sunbasket Vineyards. We have always farmed sustainably to care for the soils and vines that sustain us. Stay tuned for updates.
Our electric car chargers continue to stay busy, and we hope you’ll plug in when you next visit. Our solar panels provide all the power we need for the winery, even during harvest, and they charge our electric cars, the new electric forklift, and the soon-to-be-delivered electric tractor!
Bluebirds have moved back into the many birdhouses in the vineyards, and we will soon be checking our owl boxes for 2023 occupancy. Our insect and rodent control team is on call.