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2001 was a classic vintage, with ideal conditions for making powerful yet elegant wines. There was not a single heat spike over 100 °F during the entire ripening season in 2001. Warm days and cool, foggy nights resulted in inky color and full, complex flavors. The spare rainfall during the winter months favored a smaller than average crop, contributing uncommon intensity to the wine. I love the 2001 Corison Kronos Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon for its amazing layered flavors. Steve Tanzer writes: “Brooding aromas of black raspberry, minerals, violet and bitter chocolate with claret-like notes of leather, smoke, cedar and graphite. Finishes with lovely length and lingering sweetness. 91+ I would add that this juicy wine evokes blackberry pie and jumps out of the glass with lavender and dried-rose-petal perfume. The Kronos signature texture is round with soft, silky tannins. 400 cases were produced. Kronos Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon is our single-vineyard estate wine. These rare vines are more than 30 years old and produce just over one ton per acre each year.

I have always been very fond of Alsatian wines, especially Gewürztraminer. They offer wonderfully full, spicy, complex flavors and, when truly dry, complement a wide range of flavors in foods. In 1999 I began producing a small lot of Gewürztraminer from a 25-year-old vineyard in the Anderson Valley, which is clearly the best area in California for the variety. Fermented to complete dryness, the Corazón Gewürztraminer is bottled in the spring following the vintage. Made this way, Gewürztraminer cries out for food. Very aromatic, the mouthfilling flavors of pear, lychee nut, rose petal and grapefruit are balanced by snappy acidity. Corazón is derived from the ancestral form of my family name and means “heart” in Spanish.

Fleshing out this sturdy framework are rich, complex flavors and aromas. The red fruit notes include plum, blackberry and black cherry with hints of chocolate and a dash of spice for interest. A beautiful floral perfume of violets and an unmistakable mineral quality, often called “Rutherford dust”, complete the package. In short, all of the components converge in just the right place; everything is in balance. This wine will enjoy a long, distinguished life.