Corison Winery

Our mission at Corison Winery is to produce world-class Cabernet Sauvignon with integrity. One of our founding principles is to minimize negative impacts on the environment. We’re all in this together.

Kronos and Sunbasket Vineyards are certified organic by CCOF. Compost and cover crops promote flourishing soils which, in turn, nourish the vines. Sheep mow the cover crop in early spring, and their nutrient-rich droppings feed the vines and the microbial life in the soil. We till to manage weeds with our electric tractors.

Nesting boxes abound in the vineyards to encourage hungry birds to take up residence. Bluebirds and swallows consume harmful insects, including leafhoppers and mealybugs, and Barn Owls hunt four-legged varmints. We do not use any synthetic pesticides or herbicides. 

With water being one of our biggest challenges in California, we encourage our mature vines to send roots deep into the soil to dry-farm when we can. Kronos Vineyard grows on St. George rootstock, which is known for its drought resistance. State-of-the-art water stress sensors and drip-irrigation help us optimize this precious resource when the vines do need water.

Mindful of our carbon footprint, solar panels on the winery roof produce all of our electricity.  Cathy commutes to the winery and makes her vineyard rounds gasoline- and emissions-free by bicycle or electric car, and the winery offers charging stations for visitors. In addition to our electric tractors in the vineyard, we use an electric forklift at the winery.

William built passive night-cooling into the design of the winery with the cool night air drawn in through louvers on the ground floor and warm air vented to the outside through classic cupolas on the roof. 

Learn More: https://www.corison.com/sustainability/

features

napa green

certified vineyard

napa green

certified winery

soil to bottle

certified

regenerative

vineyard

climate smart

winery

vineyard

grazing

female

owned

renewable

energy

electric

tractor

meet the team

Cathy Corison | Winemaker, Founding Partner

Cathy’s winemaking journey began nearly 50 years ago when she took a wine appreciation course at Pomona College on a complete whim. She fell in love with wine for all the usual reasons, but, as a Biology major, was also taken by the fact that wine is the result of a fascinating collaboration among a series of living systems. Two years later she graduated, and two days after that, arrived in the Napa Valley, bent on making wine. A master’s degree in Enology at UC Davis followed, and then a harvest internship at Freemark Abbey in 1978. Winemaking positions included Yverdon in 1979-1980 and then Chappellet Vineyard for the 1980’s. In 1987, toward the end of her tenure at Chappellet, there was a wine inside her that needed to get out and she began to buy grapes and barrels (instead of cars and houses). Using other wineries’ excess capacity while continuing to moonlight at Staglin, York Creek and Long Meadow Ranch, Corison Winery was born.

William Martin | Partner

William grew up in upstate New York working at his grandfather’s lumberyard and, using both sides of his brain, majored in Art & Physics at Middlebury College in Vermont. After several years in Boston working for an architect and cultivating his passion for food and wine, he met Cathy in 1990. They married two years later and William moved to the Napa Valley, just in time to help with the 1992 harvest. He soon brought Corison Winery into the digital age with its first computer, and remains the IT and Accounting departments to this day. A man with a long view, he searched for a vineyard and winery site and then orchestrated the purchase of Kronos Vineyard in 1995. He designed the winery barn and orchestrated the building of our winemaking home, breaking ground in 1999.

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