2018 Cornell Vineyards Far Country Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma County 750 ml

There is a road on the western flank of Spring Mountain—narrow, winding, climbing through 200 acres of wild grassland and native woodland—that deposits you, if you follow it high enough, at one of the most singular estate vineyards in Sonoma County. Cornell Vineyards sits at nearly 2,000 feet in elevation, straddling the Mayacamas range just beyond the Spring Mountain District, neighbor to Pride Mountain, Fisher, and Terra Valentine.

Henry and Vanessa Cornell purchased the first parcel in 2000 on land a stagecoach route once traversed, where pre-Prohibition settlers had already found something extraordinary could be grown. Of their 250-acre ranch, just 20 acres are planted to Bordeaux varieties, divided into 20 distinct blocks, each with its own microclimate and soil signature—volcanic rock, prehistoric seabed, loamy clay, and sandstone. The farming is certified organic, guided by a full-time crew who live on the property year-round. Phil Coturri, the pioneering organic viticulturist whose clients include Harlan Estate and Bedrock Wine Co., was brought in to redesign the vineyard. Bud break runs late, harvest runs late, and the mountain’s cool mornings mean the grapes build flavor at their own pace.

Into this setting came Françoise Peschon. Trained at UC Davis and apprenticed at Château Haut-Brion, Peschon spent two decades as winemaker at Araujo Estate, building one of Napa Valley’s most celebrated Cabernet programs. When Araujo was acquired by Château Latour’s Pinault family in 2013, she made a deliberate choice: estate properties only, sites with something genuine to say. Cornell was one of them. Antonio Galloni—who named her Winemaker of the Year for 2021, an honor the San Francisco Chronicle had already given her in 2019—has called Cornell “one of the most exciting and dynamic estate wineries in northern California.”

The Far Country is a barrel selection made exclusively for Wine Access from Cornell’s estate fruit—same vineyards, same farming, same Peschon influence that defines their flagship. Muscular but poised, built on the dark cherry and cassis of high-elevation Sonoma Cab, with the fine-grained mountain tannins that are Cornell’s calling card.