June 20, 2014 – Wine: 2005 Corison Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

If you want to age a wine, you have to forget that you have it.  It had been two years since the last opening and I was ready for a progress update.  When this wine was young, it featured prominently the palette of the vintage: cranberry, raspberry, cherry, and coffee.  As the wine has evolved, some of the sweet fruits (in this dry wine’s tannins) have waned, but the complexity has grown.  Most surprising in this evening’s bottle was the development of a richness on the mid-palette which is well-controlled.  I noted flavors of cherry, raspberry, cranberry, chalk, mint, and a hint of mineral.  This may be my second favorite vintage of Corison’s Cabernet (after the 2001) and it is showing quite nicely right now.  The tannins suggest the wine will hold up for another five to ten years more in the half-bottle too.

2005 Corison Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon