| Score: |
96 JG.
"Cathy Corison’s 2016 vintage from the Kronos Vineyard comes in at a refined 13.3 percent octane and looks destined to be one of the legendary vintages of this great, old vine cuvée. The bouquet wafts from the glass in a very elegant constellation of black cherries, cassis, Cuban cigar wrapper, a gorgeous base of soil, those signature Rutherford Bench scents of allspice, gentle smokiness and a very refined base of new oak. On the palate the wine is very precise, full-bodied and suave in profile, with a great core of perfectly ripe fruit, beautiful undertow from the soil, fine-grained, ripe tannins and stunning length and grip on the nascently complex, seamless and dancing finish. This is classically balanced for long aging and, as a result, is fairly tightly-knit out of the blocks, but with sufficient bottle age, there is nothing but magic that awaits! To my palate, this is one of Cathy’s most brilliant wines of her career, and she has been on a hot streak since Reagan was president." John Gilman, View From the Cellar #85, Feb 2020 |