The entire staff was very welcoming. The winnery is beautiful and looking out over Napa was relaxing and very enjoyable. Mario was so knowledgeable and friendly. He graciously answered all of our questions related to the process of wine making and the surrounding area. read more

Love this wine, and Cathy has great staff working for her! We love stopping here and this year she has produced half bottles. For my wife and I half bottles add so much to dinner dates! We are able to have a cocktail at the bar... cocktails at the table... and still have delicious wine with our meal without wasting or over drinking. Love this label Cathy and the group have done a great job. read more

Corison Winery - Wineries Near Me - Saint Helena, California

This is our very favorite winery in CA! Cathy does things the old fashioned way. Her dedication to wine making is unsurpassed! You owe it to yourself to check out this family winery!!! read more

This was a fantastic experience for anyone who loves fine wine. We were treated like family while we were introduced to everyone. This is one of the finest wines I ever tasted. I highly recommend this winery for any who want the original valley experience. This is more than a family owned business, it is also a family who will preserve the future of the grape! read more

This is always been one of our favorite wineries, and it was a treat to be able to take our friends to experience what we've come to enjoy so much. The winery has an amazing history and I think that is part of the reason that we like to visit. The wines are certainly pricey, but they are in line with what you would expect from high end, Napa Valley wineries. I would love to join one of the clubs, but simply can't afford it. Our tasting started with a rosé and a brief tour of the Vineyard behind the winery. We then went upstairs to taste the rest of the Cabernets, and they were not a disappointment. Our host was very knowledgeable about the wines, as well as how the different environments contribute to different tastes. We did buy a bottle, as it is a special treat for us to do so. We will likely be back when we return to Napa in a couple of years. read more

Corison Winery - rows of grape vines in autumn - Wineries Near Me - Saint Helena, California

Excellent wine tasting experience the wine is subtle and amazing! We really loved it and we were well taken care of.

Love love love their rose. Can't believe I didn't write a review two years ago but they always have excellent service here. read more

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I can't give a great review of the wine (great wine, just not my preference) but the experience here was so notable. Jack was incredibly knowledgeable of the Vineyard and it's history, answering all our curiosities about the space. Cathy is clearly a force--even our guide at another vineyard referred to her as a legend. And the view is absolutely beautiful. Definitely head over for a personalized, thoughtful, and relaxing experience! read more

Corison Winery - Wineries Near Me - Saint Helena, California

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Very, very, nice! I won a magnum of their 2017 Cab and a Library tasting for four in the Napa Valley State Parks auction last Fall. Yesterday we got to experience their wine and hospitality first hand. Geoff was our guide. Took us outside to the back of the winery and explained their vine selection, pruning, and overall care in their production. We loved the wool blankets that were provided (initially a little chilly) and the "almost in the vineyard" location of our table. Geoff proceeded to bring our tastings and give us an overview as we enjoyed the wine. Corison - thanks for a great afternoon at your winery. read more

Visited during the Spring of 2022 and had a great private tasting experience. We had a person assigned to guide us around and give a tour, then we were led to our own table on the beautiful patio overlooking one of their vineyards. They brought us a variety of tastings and lingered to discuss the wines, answer questions. It was a wonderful time. The wine was familiar to us, so we knew we loved it (and it was worth the investment). read more

Our experience at Corison was fantastic. From start to finish, Grace kept us entertained and educated in the winery and it's history. She was incredibly knowledgable and made sure we had the best experience possible, from greeting us at the door with a couple glasses of Cabernet Franc, to having already poured our tasting upstairs in the library. She answered all of our questions and even poured us a 1999 vintage after our library tasting ended. Will definitely be back again if we can have Grace be our guide again. read more

We were interested in Cathy Corison's wines, so we came here for a tasting. The property is not that big, and I like that it's not a big commercial tasting room. After you check in, they take you out to the back patio overlooking the vineyards for an outdoor tasting. The standard tasting ($75, appointment only) is focused on cabs, including a cabernet sauvignon based rose, which I've never had before. The Kronos seems to be their best known or best selling wine, but the Helios cab franc was actually my favorite. The property is very intimate, everyone is very knowledgeable, and it was a great tasting experience. read more

I was really excited to visit Corison Vineyard after reading so much about Cathy Corison (maybe the best female winemaker in napa) and how this winery specializes in Cabernet Sauvignon. Visited with a friend on a Saturday afternoon - we showed up exactly at 2pm for our reservation (they do not accept walk-ins). Cristian was our tasting host and winery tour guide, and the tasting included the following: 2016 Corazion Gewurztraminer $35 2015 Corison Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon $95 2014 Corison Sunbasket Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon $175 2000 Corison Kronos Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon $325 Cristian was really casual and calming to listen to. He took us for a tour through the Kronos vineyard and explained that the Kronos vines were 48 years old already and would be considered a historical landmark in a couple more years. We then did a quick walk through the rest of the main building - I think the entire tour may have taken 20 minutes. After arriving back in the tasting room we were greeted with three different Cabernet Sauvignons. As a huge Cab fan, I couldn't wait to dig in, but was kind of disappointed with the first two cabs. I didn't find the Napa Valley cab to have a lot of depth, and to me it felt like the tannins were a bit too wild - maybe the wine was too young. The Sunbasket cab was slightly better and definitely displayed more complexity, but I don't think it should be priced much higher than the Napa Valley. Now the 2000 Kronos Cab was a totally different story. When I read that cab lovers should visit Corison Vineyards, the Kronos is the type of wine I expected to experience. I'm not sure if it's due to the age of the wine (18 years old!) or if its just the type of grapes that the Kronos vines produce - maybe it's a combination, but the wine was definitely very different and made a great impression on my friend and I. For $325 a bottle I think it's a bit pricey but definitely worth a try if you're a cab lover like me. I didn't find the wine club options to be very appealing. One of the problems is that they will ship you only the sunbasket or the napa valley cabs in the first half of the year. Then in the second half of the year they only ship you the kronos - there isn't a good balance and the second half of the year shipments will be really expensive. All in all, Cristian was a great host. We liked the winery and were impressed with the Kronos cab. Corison winery gets 4 stars from me for being a small production winery that treats everyone like family. I found their tasting flight to be very pricey at $55 a person. Definitely a recommended stop for people who love lighter, more balanced cabs. I'm not one of those people - I love very bold, powerful, complex cabs which is probably why I chose other wine clubs over Corison. read more

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Corison Winery is a must visit when you are in the Napa Valley. This boutique winery is in an idyllic setting. The wine is delectable and is smooth on the pallet. It is an exceptional wine which is very difficult to find. Our host, Jeff, was over the top in service, knowledge and relationship building. We left being club members but at no time were we pressured by Jeff. Highly recommend the "Kronos Library Tasting." read more

Corison Winery - Entrane - Wineries Near Me - Saint Helena, California

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Tasting: $10 Famous for: Cabernet Sauvignon Worth another visit? No. The story, Cathy Corison's handcrafted Cabernet Sauvignons, and the setting, a small barn in the middle of a vineyard, were all wonderful, but I just couldn't find any of their wines to be interesting. Their bottle is offered on Michael Mina's award winning wine list, so you know it is good stuff, but I just didn't get it. Perhaps it was because their style is very subtle so you really need to listen to the wine very carefully to appreciate it. Hours: Tasting room is open 10-5, so stop in anytime. DO NOT worry about 'by appointment' rule; which is Napa County's stupid and unfair regulations. They told us that majority of visitors are walk-ins. Bottle Prices: $98 - 2002 Corison 'Kronos Vineyard' $65 - 2003 Corison Napa Valley Cab read more

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We found about this place while tasting at Whitehall Lane. And when a competing winery raves about another wineries wine, you know it's got to be special. Corison is "appointment only", but we caught them at a good time and they were able to accommodate us. Our host for the day was Justin. And I cannot even begin to say how awesome he was. His knowledge of wine and growing techniques were amazing, he was very passionate yet still did it with a sense of humor. Midway though our tasting, he walked us through the winery, explaining every detail about the history of the wine owner/maker. She sounds like an extraordinary person. This is a small production winery, which I am a big fan of. Corison will be a regular stop from here on out. read more

Corison Winery - Wineries Near Me - Saint Helena, California

Kathy Corison wines are a true expression of place - the staff is very friendly, welcoming and sometimes can overload you with too much information - you have two tasting options - I highly recommend the library wine tasting (yes its expensive but where else can you do a vertical tasting from the same exact vineyards to get a true feeling of how weather and age are reflected in wine). If you like big fruit forward Robert Parker loving Cabs then I don't think you will like Corison - but if you want velvet, soft shoulders and well balanced tastes then I think you will enjoy Corsion - Drink Up read more

Corison Winery - Winter in the Kronos Vineyard - Wineries Near Me - Saint Helena, California

What a disappointment!! Our friends have been here multiple times and were bragging about this place. This has plummeted in their opinion. First of all they changed their opening tasting to "library" and jacked up the price to $75pp. Our "sommelier" and I use that term very loosely was a pompous jerk and told us the mediocre 2018 and 2019 "library" tastings were "all they had available right now". This as we sat with the flies and the same glasses in lawn chairs. So horrible. Go elsewhere. Cathy you should be ashamed. read more

I may be biased, but I like true expressions of Cabernet Sauvignon and I'll be damned if this isn't THE one. We had an appointment set for 3pm but we're running a bit late. I called and they had no qualms about us being a little late. For the life of me, I cannot remember who was our host (taller, slimmer gentleman with glasses) but he was a treasure of knowledge with everything to do with Corison. We walked to the Kronos vineyard, saw his favorite vine (a craggy, thick mean looking vine) and admired the scenery for a little. All while sipping the gorgeous Gewürztraminer that was sourced from Anderson Valley. I myself can appreciate sweet Gewürztraminer (at times a little too much so- and by that I mean DRINKING them because sweet Gewurtztraminer is liquid gold) just like I can the bone dry ones. This one was one of those bone dry ones (I couldn't pick out any discernible bit of sugar) and I will find out how well it goes with oysters and/or Humboldt Fog. We make our way inside to our table and see we had a few options. I forgot my paper at the winery but I do remember tasting the Cabernet Franc, Napa Valley Cabernet and the Kronos and Sunbasket. Here's where things get interesting: Cathy herself has always kept balance in her wines. The reason I (and many others) love Corison wines is because she never tries to over extract, or lavish it up with tons of oak, or picking later in the season to get a more alcoholic wine. These are wines that to me truly are the filet mignons of Napa Valley. You're never going to see one of Corison's Cabernets above 14.5 (truth be told all the ones I've had have been below 13.8) or having that oily, thick gloppy texture. These are wines of finesse and elegance. If you've had great wines from Margaux, I find them to be pretty close. So, now knowing that as your background, the 2016 Cabernet Franc was outstanding. It had the mild green notes, but excellent acidity and great tannins. The 2016 Napa Valley Cabernet was godly. It was so clean, pristine, just classy, elegant, textured so finely but finished with a resounding boom that fades as if it was thrown into a silken bag. Then onto the 2011 Kronos. The Kronos is truly a story about a small return turning into an immense gain- by that I mean that they must get minuscule harvests from those craggy vines, but allow it to coast into something truly magical. The texture, the aromatics, the sheer structure so interwoven into classic Margaux tones. It's one of those wines that not only makes you immensely happy that you're drinking it, but it also forces you to look in the mirror and ask yourself why you cannot be as perfect as it, the wine. There is not one thing I could nitpick out of that Kronos that could potentially make it better. You can disagree with me, but you can't convince me that what I felt drinking that wine, transported me to a different planet. So take that and remember that. Then the person brought us out some other glasses filled with another wine. He told me to guess what it was. I could profess a litany of expletives to describe what I smelled and even more to describe what I tasted. Imagine everything I said about the 2011. But multiplied by 3 million. Or 4 million. Hell even 15 quadrillion. You can't put a number next to it and if you try to you are fool. It was the 1998 Kronos. Seeing (tasting) is believing. Yelp only gives me a limited amount of space, so to get any perception of the 2012 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon or the 2016 Sunbasket, you should just stop reading this, make your appointment and visit the estate. Again, I will reiterate that Corison wines are NOT those over extracted, sugar filled oak bombs you find rampant in Napa Valley. If you can find it in you to look for balance and elegance, then you will more than happy to learn about Corison wines, and know true balance in California wines. And no, I'm not being paid by Corison or profiting off of anything. I just truly love Corison and you typically can't find them outside of the winery! read more

We REALLY enjoyed our recent visit to Corison Winery. 2pm tasting on a nice Sunday afternoon. The check-in was quick. Rob, our tour guide was wonderful, friendly and easy going. Took us outside to see the huge vineyard, gave us the background story of the amazing winemaker "Cathy". Headed back indoor to sit in between the barrels for tasting. Everyone enjoyed the tour, purchased several bottles. read more

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Corison Winery is a serious, unpretentious vintner doing really remarkable things with wine in Napa Valley. The property is utilitarian: no banquet hall or event space...instead, guests are received in the barrel room of the barn that houses the entire operation. I dwell on this part because it indicates to you what the priorities are at Corison: making excellent wine, not entertaining weddings or parties, not getting rich by selling 400k barrels per year. This is a winery owned and operated by an artisan, Cathy was motoring around the property the whole time while we were there, and I have no doubt she walks the fields every day. Christina was our host and wine educator, and she assumed the role well, guiding my partner and I through a magnificent tasting despite our different levels of experience with wine. She was very knowledgeable and thorough, while still being conversational and fun, and not pretentious. Overall, if you like good wine, there's a lot of it in Napa Valley. But if you like learning about all the little details that makes wine superb, if you like to geek out, this is the place. read more

Good wine, the guy guiding our tasting was a motor mouth. He gave my wife a headache, talked nonstop about wine and stereos. It ruined the experience completely. We just wanted to get out of there. read more

This is small winery and requires an appointment. We had a nice tour guide who was very jolly and provided us a well in-depth history of Cathy, how the winery came to be and where it stands among the wineries in Napa currently. We walked out into the vineyards and enjoyed a white wine glass while learning the history. Afterwards we went back into the winery and tasted 3 additional wines, which were reds. We were provided water and a pour bucket. There is no food available at the winery. We purchased a bottle to take with us, and they do have 4 different club options if you choose to join. I would recommend giving Corison a try and see if their wines agree with your pallet. If you enjoy reds, this is the place to go. Cheers! read more

Corison Winery - Wineries Near Me - Saint Helena, California

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After a nice leisurely lunch downtown, I followed two separate people here who knew one of the employees form a previous venture. So this turned out to be a fairly personable trip for them and I reaped the benefits of that. Tried a ton of the different cabs and ended up taking home an 04. I certainly do like the wine, and I think the grassroots history they have is awesome. It's just not personally my favorite but then wine is such a subjective thing isnt it? The folks here are wonderful and if you like cabernet with warm hospitality, you should check out this quaint space and team. They're take good care of you. 4.5 stars read more

********************* 1173 ********************* I took my BFF Coconut and broski @GotRich (IG) to Napa for 2 events this past weekend Annual Crystal Coustume Ball 007 at Raymond Vineyards and the 27th Annual Chocolate and Wine Tasting event benefits Napa County Foster Kids. After our breakfast, I took them here for some serious red wine lovers. Corison is a very unique winery with amazing history of how it all began. Started out with this amazing 5' petite winemaker Cathy Corison, 1 of the first women winemakers in Napa Valley. Winegrower Cathy Corison produces 2 lmitted production Cabernet Sauvignon, handcrafted from some of the finest vineyards in Napa Valley. Both of her Cabs are powerful and elegant, reflect the terroirs, and the passion that she has put into it. Where Corison tasting room at is the Kronos Vineyard, 1 of the last old Cabernet Sauvignon Vineyards in Napa Valley that produces tiny crops of concentrated 8X10 Feet, complex estate wine with great structure and finesse. This between Rutherford and St. Helena produces some of the finest cab in the world. If you have about less than 60 minutes of your trip, listen to Paul (he's only been here less than 2 months, as of OCT 2014). He can tour you the property, pour you some library wines and current releases (2005, 2009, 2011) while tell you about this amazing wimaker Cathy Corison, how she practices sustainable farmed Kronos Vineyard. Paul is warm, professional and passionate about this job, he reminds you of your good uncle that you love to hear story from him. Thank you for touring us. Corison Wine Club offers 3 clubs levels to choose from: 12 bottles Cellar, Choice Collector's Clubs, pr 6 bottles Magnum Club. You get 20% OFF and 1 cent shipping on all wine club shipments (3 times per year including 1 Library Wine), 15% OFF all other purchases. Complimentary tasting up to 8 people. 8 discounted tickets to Corison Release Parties. 6 bottles Premier or Choice Collectors' Club or 3 bottles Magnum Club: You get 20% OFF all wine club shipment, 15% OFF all other purchases. Complimentary tasting up to 6 people. 6 discounted tickets to Corison Release Parties. 4 bottles Select Collectors' Club: You get 15% OFF all wine club shipment, 10% OFF all other purchases. Complimentary tasting up to 4 people. 4 discounted tickets to Corison Release Parties. Corison Winery is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. by appointment. "Corison Current Release Tasting" $35 per person: An introductory flight of Cathy's current releases including her signature Corison Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and a selection of other wines available only at the Winery. "Corison Library Experience" $55 per person: Our most popular tasting, the Library Experience features recent releases plus select older vintages from Cathy's extensive Library for a total of 6 wines. We happily waive the fee when you purchase wine: Corison Current Release Tasting fees are waived with any purchase of $120 (per tasting). Library Experience Tasting fees are waived with any purchase of $300 (per tasting). Corison Winery is nothing fancy. No fancy structure, no gigantic pond, water fountain, nor spacious garden that costs millions Dollars to build. So if you looking for something fancy for photo op, this is NOT the place for you. However, if you are CAB lovers, and just want to try some solid wine, please come here. You will be glad you do! read more

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If you love Cabernet Sauvignon and you have not tried a Corison cab, you are doing something wrong. These are not cheap wines, but once you taste them you will understand. These are some excellent high quality cabs, that last for years. I still love the 2001 vintage. Cathy Corison, who was named the Chronicle's Winemaker of the Year 2011, takes such care and pride in her wine making that clearly comes though to the bottle. The tasting room is no frills and nothing fancy because all the effort goes into the wine making. You can admire the Kronos vineyard while you visit, which contain some old gnarly vines that produce the grapes for the Kronos version of the Corison cabs. If you truly want to understand what a superb Napa Cab tastes like, then go on and visit Corison and be prepared to be wowed. read more

I wish I could give them 0 stars. I walked in with a friend at 4PM asking for a tasting. There were ZERO people inside and the guy working there refused to give us a tasting because they "were full". There was not ONE PERSON in there. We travel to Napa once a year and will never even try to come back to this winery. read more

We had heard about Corison and intended on visiting for quite sometime. With friends in town and a bit of luck, we were able to get a tasting. It was well worth the wait! The facility was beautiful, the wine was exquisite and Jamie, our host, was incredibly gracious! We became members that day due part of the excellence of the wine but also because of the how we felt about the experience. Without sounding corny, it was welcoming, family-like and the wine is fantastic! A huge thank you to Jamie and staff! Cheers! read more

Highly, highly recommend a visit to this winery! Easily one of our favorite spots in Napa. We went for the first time last summer, and then made sure to go back when we visited Napa again this weekend. The wine is phenomenal and the grounds are beautiful. We were lucky enough to have a tasting with Cathy Corison's daughter Grace. She gave us amazing insight into the wine making process and Cathy Corison's fascinating backstory! Definitely a must-see! read more

Absolutely beautiful grounds to walk around. They are by appointment only, but Hardy was free and took us right away. He was very personable and clearly loves his job. The wines are amazing. I am not a big Cab fan, but I absolutely loved all of their wines. The 2009 Helios Cabernet Franc was my favorite, and they ship to Indiana!! I will definitely be ordering some for a special occasion. read more

We heard about Corison Winery from the sommelier at the French Laundry. He highly recommended it. He could not have been more right! This winery was a wonderful place to visit. It was not crowded, on the contrary, it was calm and we were able to get a very personalized experience. We couldn't resist and took a couple of their amazing wine bottles home. read more

Hands down this is some of the best wine in the Valley. We have been members for a few years and were introduced to them by some friends of ours. I also love that they are a smaller winery so do tastings by reservation. The tastings are relaxing and (especially now) generally on their back patio facing the vineyards. Some wineries, pre-covid really packed people in and you get the big parties and it feels rushed and very generic. Knowledgeable and friendly staff as well. read more

Had a great intimate experience here. The story is as fascinating as the wines are. Definitely beat out Cakebread cellars who we had previously visited. Keep it up Ms. Corison and team! read more

Started the day off right with a tasting hosted by Jeff. Left as club members so it was obviously amazing. Beautiful tasting with an eye for detail. I almost asked if I could buy the water glasses they were so amazing. Overall, a nice change from your standard bold Napa cab. read more

Friendly, unassuming winery that makes killer, low alcohol, well-balanced cabernets. What's not to like? read more

$20 for a tasting of their wines. Apparently, they have great cabs! I never got that far in my tasting. The service that we got from Holly enraged my friend so much that after we were poured our first flight of wine, she ran to the cash register and demanded to pay for our wine so that we could leave. Holly kept on making little remarks about our "behaviour". We walked in and we just wanted to look around since it looked like she was busy with an older couple (who were VERY nice and LOVED Holly) but she decided to stop her conversation with them and asked us how many tastings. We were a group of 5 and there were only 3 of us there, we wanted to wait for our whole party so we told her a minute and we were talking amonst ourselves when she grabbed 3 glasses and started pouring. Um...thanks...??? We wanted to find our other friends and one wanted to go but Holly said, in a very annoyed curt voice, "Don't leave." But my friend didn't hear her and leaves, and then Holly turns to the couple and went, "...annnndddd there she goes. I swear, my life should be on tv, first the other group of girls and now them." Um...excuse me...??? I'm sorry but I really don't think your life is so great. We tried to make small talk with her so that she wouldn't rush us into buying tasting flights till our other friends came and she wouldn't have it. She JUST wanted to talk about wine. She didn't care that my friend's parents went to the same high school as she did and graduated in the same year. In fact, she told us she remembers NOTHING about high school. What an exciting show your life would be! Let's JUST talk about Corison wines and if you try to bring up my past, let me just forget everything. I thought it was an amazing coincidence, I guess it was more of an annoyance to her, especially since it was a tiny town to begin with. ps...the Gewürztraminer was disgusting. I really wanted to try at least one cab to see if the rest of their wines were better. pps...they had a porch swing and a cute lil black and white cat. The winery is so cute! Reminds me of a farm but...ugh...Holly...geez. If you didn't want to "deal" with us, just ask someone else to take over for you T_T I guess the nice thing she did was to tell us it was on the house since we only had one pouring. read more

Best Napa experience yet! Jeff was fun, intelligent and funny. He really taught us a lot and added to the experience. Make an appointment and make sure to get in here. Very unique experience. read more

We were treated like 2nd class citizens when we walked in the door without an appointment. Just to mention not a another patron was in the building. She lost out on the tasting money & most likely the sale of bottles of wine. I see no need to be so rude to people especially when you are in the service industry. 3/1/2019. read more

This is a qualified 4-star review, as we actually had a good experience here. And the reason I'm docking the 1-star is not actually fair because their prices are posted on the website. But that lower rating is based entirely on one thing: $40/person tasting fee for 3 pours + 1 welcome pour of white. 1 $40 fee is waived for every $200 purchased. Sorry, maybe I'm a Napa newbie, but that's just exorbitant tasting fee pricing. Yes, it's my fault, I should have checked the website before going in. But I just don't get charging $80 for what amounts to a single glass of wine between 2 people and then still charging that fee even when we purchased a $75 bottle. Isn't the point of a tasting fee to keep out the moochers? Once you ante up $75, you cease to become a mooch! BUT, the experience we had there was actually very good. We didn't have an appointment and they welcomed us in even though it seemed like they were ready to wind up for the day. Our host walked us out through the back of the facility into the vineyard, which was a beautiful view of the valley. He was friendly and informative and the entire facility is a very impressive operation. If you don't have issues with those prices, then you'll really enjoy this place. read more

Corison Winery makes some of the most complex and incredibly well balanced Cabs that I've encountered. If you love Cabs, you will certainly want to try some of Corison Cabernet Sauvignon. Much thanks to our wine host, Hardy, who helped make our visit such a wonderful experience. Photos may be viewed here: http://bachtobacchus.blogspot.com/2013/03/corison-winery.html Our tasting began with the Corazon 2009 Gewürztraminer ($30). It is a dry, Alsatian style, 100% Gewürztraminer that has a fantastic aroma of flowers, spices, white peach and lychees. On the palate it is dry and spicy with white peach, tropical notes and minerality along with a long finish. Our next sample was the Helios 2006 Syrah ($38). If you are tired of Syrahs or Shiraz being fruit bombs or excessively fruit forward, you might just love this Syrah. Light on the nose, this is a dry, spicy style Syrah with a lovely red raspberry palate, medium body and a medium length finish. I found it to be very enjoyable. Cabernets followed, beginning with the Corison 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon at $75. This saw 50% neutral oak and 50% new French oak. After a restrained nose I got dusty blackberries with hints of cedar, floral notes and spice. It is very dry but impeccably balanced, with great structure, good mouthfeel and fascinating complexity plus a long finish. Although this 2009 is still young, I found it to be quite drinkable now. Even better was the Corison 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon at $90. I confess that I am very fond of 2005 Napa Valley Cabs and usually enjoy them more than the famous 2007 vintage because they often seem to have better structure and more complexity. This one had a good nose of cherries followed by multi-layers of cherry, nutmeg, spice, and floral notes, with integrated tannins. Again it is very dry, complex, well structured with amazing balance. There is so much going on with this wine! My friend's favorite was the Corison 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon at $90. This was especially deep garnet in color and had an even better nose than the 2005 but a somewhat softer presentation. Again it was extremely well balanced and complex, but I did not get quite the layered depth of the 2005. Tannins were very supple. I got mostly cherry with some cedar. Highly recommended! My favorite, along with the 2005 mentioned above, was the Corison 2006 Kronos Cabernet Sauvignon at $119. Dark purple in color with a good nose of blackberry and cherry. Lush without being big or overdone. Complex, layered and extremely well balanced. Black cherry with some cedar and nutmeg. This has great fruit along with very distinct character. It seems somewhat more intense than the other Corison Cabs but the Corison touch is unmistakable; it is so balanced and multi-dimensional, so interesting. It is as fascinating as it is delicious. Simply wonderful!!! As a final treat we were offered a taste of the Corison 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon at $115. This had a smoothness that comes with age. Great blackberry and blueberry fruit, with superb balance. I liked it as well as the 2004 but preferred the regular 2005 and the Kronos 2006. At most wineries this would stand out as a great wine, but at Corison it is one among a number of great wines. I really love these Corison Cabs. Each vintage is different but there is a style that is fairly consistent. None are overly extracted or overly oaked. These are beautiful Cabs with great mouthfeel, wonderful fruit, supple tannins and power along with nuance and charm. I just love the complexity and balance of these wines. They go beyond mere balance and have a coordinated integration that is as sensually pleasurable as it is intellectually interesting. read more