Der er et eller andet velkendt ved det første møde med Cathy Corison. Allerede inden jeg hilser på hende har jeg en rar fornemmelse. Bare mødet med vingården, der i sit funktionelle, enkle udtryk, er en mellemting mellem en lade og et hus, bygget i træ. Og Cathy Corison og hendes mand, William Martins private bolig, Palm House, der minder mig om mine lykkelige ungdomsår i Nordsverige, fyldt med fine detaljer, det, man i Sverige kalder ”snedkerglæde”.
I tagetagen to karnapper der på det lille hus kommer til at virke som to tårne. Den fine ornamentik i tagudhænget, der svæver over den smukke veranda, overdækket med fine, hvide bærende træsøjler, der markerer indgangspartiet til den smukke dør, der, som vinduerne, igen er fyldt med snedkerglæde. Symmetrisk og dog, skorstenen er udefra placeret helt forkert, til venstre i bygningen og netop det asymmetriske i en bygning, der i sin oprindelse er symmetrisk, gør, at øjet fanger huset på en anden måde og får iagttagelsen og sjælen til at vandre. Hvad har det med vin at gøre? ALT.
There is something familiar about the first meeting with Cathy Corison. Even before I greet her, I have a nice feeling. Just the meeting with the winery, its functional, simple expression – something in between a barn and a house, built in wood. And Cathy Corison and her husband William Martin’s private residence, Palm House, reminds me of my happy youth in northern Sweden, full of fine details, what in Sweden is called “joiner’s joy”.
In the roof, two bay windows on the small house look like two towers. The fine ornamentation in the eaves, hovers over the beautiful veranda, covered with fine, white supporting wooden columns, marking the entrance to the beautiful door, which, like the windows, is again full of carpentry joy. Symmetrical and yet, the chimney is positioned completely “wrong” from the outside, to the left of the building and precisely the asymmetric in a building that is originally symmetrical, makes the eye catch the house in a different way and makes the observation and the soul wander. What does this have to do with wine? EVERYTHING.
At være ydmyg – at kunne lytte – at kunne varetage
At overtage en kulturarv bygget i 1898 og renovere det så smukt med en vovet lysblålig farve, der får detaljerne, malet i hvidt endnu mere frem, siger noget om ægteparrets visioner. Fornemmelsen for det smukke, for ikke at overrenovere, men at bevare huset, men også vinmarkerne, vinstokkene og deres udtryk, der kommer frem i vinen fordi man viser respekt, er ydmyg, lader historien og terroir’et tale.
Træhuset blev bygget i ”red wood” i 1898 af Nachbauer-familien. I USA et meget, meget gammelt hus. Det var den sidste ejer i familien, Leo Nachbauer, der plantede Kronos Vineyard i 1971 og han kunne overbringe historien til Cathy, og blandt andet fortælle, at familien måtte springe ud af vinduerne under jordskælvet i 1906.
To be humble – to be able to listen – to be able to care
To take of a heritage building and renovate it so beautifully with a bold light blue color that brings out the details, painted in white even more, says something about the couple’s visions. The feeling of beauti, not to over-renovate, but to preserve the house, but also the vineyards, the vines and their expression, coming out in the wine because you show respect, is humble, lets the history and the terroir speak.
The wooden house was built in red wood in 1898 by the Nachbauer family. In the US, a very, very old house. It was the last owner in the family, Leo Nachbauer, who planted Kronos Vineyard in 1971 and he was able to convey the story to Cathy, and among other things, tell that the family had to jump out of the windows during the earthquake in 1906.
Robert Parker knækkede hende næsten
Det er Cathys mand William Martin, der er arkitekten bag vineriet og det er ham, der har renoveret Palm House, og det er også ham der passer vinmarkerne, ja – han er faktisk alt mulig mand. Han er uddannet i kunst og musik, kommer fra staten New York. De mødte hinanden i 1990. Her var Cathy godt i gang med at lave vin. Hun købte druer, mest Cabernet Sauvignon fra tre vinmarker beliggende mellem Rutherford og St. Helena. Hun lejede lokaler, typisk amerikansk, til fremstilling af vinen.
Cathy Corisons mål har altid været at lave friske vine, elegante hvor styrken ligger i høj syre og druer der er modne, men ikke overmodne. Robert Parker var ved at knække hende, gav hendes vine så dårlige ratings, at ingen ville købe vinen. Men hun holdt fast ved sin stil. Det var sommelierne der reddede hende, de så straks, at det var vine, der skulle nydes sammen med mad og købte hendes vin. I dag er vinene meget anerkendte for deres elegance. Målet er at nå modenhed før sukkeret bliver for højt, hvilket giver en lækker, afbalanceret vin med moderat alkohol. I 2022 høstede ægteparret deres 36. årgang!
Robert Parker almost broke her
It is Cathy’s husband William Martin, who is the architect behind the winery and it is he who has renovated the Palm House, and it is also he who looks after the vineyards, yes – he is actually a man of all kinds. He is educated in art and music, comes from the state of New York. They met in 1990. Here Cathy was well into making wine. She bought grapes, mostly Cabernet Sauvignon from three vineyards located between Rutherford and St. Helena. She rented premises, typically American, for the production of the wine.
Cathy Corison’s goal has always been to make fresh wines, elegant where the strength lies in high acidity and grapes that are ripe but not overripe. Robert Parker was breaking her, giving her wines such bad ratings that no one would buy them. But she stuck to her style. It was the sommeliers who saved her, they immediately saw that these were wines to be enjoyed with food and they bought her wines. Today, the wines are widely recognized for their elegance. The aim is to reach maturity before the sugar becomes too high, resulting in a delicious, balanced wine with moderate alcohol. In 2022, the couple harvested their 36th vintage!
Kronos Vineyard
Ægteparret købte Kronos vinmark i 1995. Kronos er i græsk mytologi en titan, søn af Uranos og Gaia, Himmel og Jord. Kronos Vineyard har nogle af de sidste med gamle Cabernet Sauvignon stokke i Napa Valley. De blev plantet i 1971 på en St. George grundstamme, der er modstandsdygtig over for phylloxera. De gamle knudrede, kloge gamle ”damer”, som Cathy kalder dem, er over 50 år. Udbyttet er meget lavt, resultatet er så meget desto større.
For Cathy er det en gave at arbejde med så gamle vinstokke, fordi de giver koncentrerede, komplekse, blækagtige, strukturerede, aromatiske vine uden høj alkohol. Der tilsættes ingen syre. Vand er en af de største udfordringer i Californien. Netop St. George grundstammen er kendt for sin evne til ”dry farming” og de gamle vinstokke har meget dybe rødder. Avancerede vandstresssensorer og drypvanding hjælper i meget tørre perioder.
Efter købet at Kronos opførte William Martin den funktionelle lade – familien havde nu deres egen vingård opført i forlængelse af vinmarken. Under den store brand i 2021 var høsten kommet i hus 14 dage inden. Men branden fortsatte i en uge, og det største problem var vinden, der fik harpiksklumper, der var blevet til ildkugler, til at flyve hundrede af meter. William Martin måtte hver dag overvande huset.
Kronos Vineyard
The couple bought the Kronos vineyard in 1995. In Greek mythology, Kronos is a titan, the son of Uranos and Gaia, Heaven and Earth. Kronos Vineyard has some of the last old Cabernet Sauvignon vines in Napa Valley. They were planted in 1971 on a St. George rootstock resistant to phylloxera. The gnarled, wise old “ladies”, as Cathy calls them, are over 50 years old. The yield is very low, the result is all the greater.
For Cathy, working with such old vines is a gift because they produce concentrated, complex, inky, structured, aromatic wines without high alcohol. No acid is added. Water is one of the biggest challenges in California. Precisely St. George root stock is known for its ability to “dry farming” and the old vines have very deep roots. Advanced water stress sensors and drip irrigation help in very dry periods.
After the purchase of Kronos, William Martin built the functional barn – the family now had their own winery built as an extension of the vineyard. During the big fire in 2021, the harvest had arrived 14 days before. But the fire continued for a week, and the biggest problem was the wind, sending lumps of resin that had turned into fireballs flying hundreds of meters. William Martin had to water the house every day.
Sunbasket Vineyard
Corison Winery har købt druer fra Sunbasket Vineyard i over 25 år og delte vinmarken med Shafer Vineyards. I 2015 lykkedes det, ikke mindst på grund af William Martins ihærdige arbejde, at købe vinmarken, der blev plantet i begyndelsen af 1950’erne af den legendariske vinmager, André Tchelistcheff, kendt som ‘Maestro’, fordi han påvirkede den nye generation af Napa Valley-vinmagere. André Tchelistcheff kaldte vinmarken sin solkurv, deraf navnet Sunbasket Vineyard. Den første vin fra Sunbasket Vineyard blev frigivet i efteråret 2017.
Corison Winery has purchased grapes from Sunbasket Vineyard for over 25 years and shared the vineyard with Shafer Vineyards. In 2015, thanks in no small part to the hard work of William Martin, it was possible to purchase the vineyard planted in the early 1950s by the legendary winemaker, André Tchelistcheff, known as the ‘Maestro’ because he influenced the new generation of Napa Valley winemakers. André Tchelistcheff called the vineyard his sunbasket, hence the name Sunbasket Vineyard. The first wine from Sunbasket Vineyard was released in the fall of 2017.
Bæredygtighed
Målet for Corison Winery er at producere Cabernet Sauvignon i verdensklasse med nerve og energi. Energien kommer blandt andet ved at minimere de negative påvirkninger fra miljøet. Kronos Vineyard er dyrket bæredygtigt og økologisk i mere end tyve år, det samme med Sunbasket Vineyard siden 2015.
Kompost- og dækafgrøder giver en helt anden luftig jord, som igen giver næring til vinstokkene. Der anvendes ingen syntetiske pesticider. Der er redekasser overalt i vinmarkerne. Fugle spiser skadelige insekter og slørugler jager firben. Der er solpaneler på vineriets tag og det dækker næsten vingårdens forbrug. I kældrene udnytter man den kølige natteluft. Cathy Corisons mål har altid været at lave vibrerende vine med energi. Derfor plukker hun også tidligere end mange andre, “plukker du for sent, mister du energien”, som hun udtrykker det.
Sustainability
The goal for Corison Winery is to produce world-class Cabernet Sauvignon with nerve and energy. The energy comes, among other things, by minimizing the negative impacts from the environment. Kronos Vineyard has been cultivated sustainably and organically for more than twenty years, the same with Sunbasket Vineyard since 2015.
Compost and cover crops provide a completely different airy soil, which in turn nourishes the vines. No synthetic pesticides are used. There are nest boxes all over the vineyards. Birds eat harmful insects and barn owls hunt lizards. There are solar panels on the winery’s roof and this almost covers the winery’s consumption. In the cellars, the cool night air is used. Cathy Corison’s goal has always been to make vibrant wines with energy. That is why she also picks earlier than many others, “if you pick too late, you lose energy”, as she puts it.
Den 25. marts 2015 omtalte Eric Asimov i sin klumme, ”The Pour”, i New York Times en smagning af 25 årgange af Corisons Cabernet Sauvignon-vine. Smagningen omfattede årgangene fra 1987 til 2011. I sin konklusion skriver han: ”It was clear to me in tasting these wines that Corison is among the greatest producers of cabernet sauvignon in Napa Valley today. These were fresh wines of great balance and elegance that spoke clearly of their place and vintage, and were remarkably consistent in character through a quarter century. They possess the capacity to age and become more complex, integrated and eloquent with time. Best of all, they demonstrate plainly that Napa cabernet can speak transparently and persuasively in a pure, restrained voice without artifice or bombast”.
On March 25, 2015, Eric Asimov in his column, “The Pour”, in the New York Times mentioned a tasting of 25 vintages of Corison’s Cabernet Sauvignon wines. The tasting included the vintages from 1987 to 2011. In his conclusion, he writes: “It was clear to me in tasting these wines that Corison is among the greatest producers of cabernet sauvignon in Napa Valley today. These were fresh wines of great balance and elegance that spoke clearly of their place and vintage, and were remarkably consistent in character through a quarter century. They possess the capacity to age and become more complex, integrated and eloquent with time. Best of all, they demonstrate plainly that Napa cabernet can speak transparently and persuasively in a pure, restrained voice without artifice or bombast”.
Corison Cabernet Sauvignon 2918, St. Helena, Napa Valley
Dyb duft, mørk solbær, blyantstift. Fyldig smag, frisk, mintet med modne solbær, markeret tannin og lang eftersmag.
93 | KK Wine
Corison Cabernet Sauvignon 2017, St. Helena, Napa Valley
Meget mintet duft med blyantstift, fyldig, friske solbær, rank med lang, rig eftersmag med solbær og blyanstift.
94 | 860,00 KK Wine
Corison Cabernet Sauvignon 2016, St. Helena, Napa Valley
Parfumeret duft, eukalyptus, mintet, friske solbær. Rank, fyldig, moden tannin, lang eftersmag med modne fine solbær og fin syre. 94 | KK Wine
Corison Sunbasket Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2018, St. Helena, Napa Valley
Parfumeret duft, masser med viol, friske solbær. Meget elegant smag, rig, elegant, moden tannin og lang, rig eftersmag.
95 | KK Wine
Corison Kronos Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2918, St. Helena, Napa Valley
Igen elegant duft, floral, friske solbær, mintet tone. Meget elegant smag, silkeblød, lang, rig eftersmag, meget elegant.
95 | KK Wine
