Colgin, IX Estate Syrah 2012
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Description
Tasting notes

The 2012 Syrah IX Estate is fabulous. Sweet tobacco, wild flowers, mint, spices and plums are all beautifully delineated. Varietal notes abound in a vivid, nuanced wine long on class and personality. Distinctly ferrous and cherry pit overtones add complexity on the finish. This is an exceptionally polished, striking wine from Colgin. It is a shame Syrah is so often overlook here, because this is pretty much as good as it gets. Ideally, readers should plan on giving the 2012 at least a few years in bottle to fully come together.

The 2012 Syrah IX Estate is dark, rich immediate and beautifully layered. There is plenty of depth and richness in the glass. The flavor are so primary the 2012 almost tastes like it just came out of the fermentation vat. It will be interesting to see if further aging brings finesse. Today the 2012 is a bit bombastic.

(75% new oak): Bright saturated ruby. Extremely primary aromas of dark berries and violet, with a touch of reduction. Thick, very ripe and sweet, with some exotic oak notes (Colgin uses Damy and François Frères barrels plus a bit of Hermitage) currently dominating the wine's fruit and spice flavors. A distinctly saline style with a note of black olive, this young Syrah appears to be going through a sullen stage, showing more depth of texture than flavor definition today. The toothcoating tannins will require patience.
About the Producer
Colgin Cellars was founded in the year 1992 by Ann Colgin, a true renaissance woman, who originally began her career in fine arts. Her aim with the winery was to produce small quantities of artisanal wines through a kind of Burgundy approach to winemaking, from the hillside vineyards of St. Helena in Napa Valley, California. Throughout the decades that followed, Ann Colgin and her husband Joe Wender purchased a series of hand-picked vineyards, including the Tychson estate and the IX Estate, which is today where the Colgin Cellars winery can be found. Colgin Cellars currently produces wine from three principle areas of the St. Helena AVA - the IX Estate, Tychson Hill and Cariad Vineyards. At the 20-acre IX Estate Vineyard, referred to as "wine nirvana," vines of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Syrah and Petit Verdot grow in volcanic and gravel soils, producing a Bordeaux style blend, as well as an excellent single-varietal Syrah in the style of the Northern Rhone. At Cariad Vineyards, the team produces a Bordeaux style red blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, named "Cariad." And in the Tychson Hill Vineyard, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot grow in Aiken Very Stone Loam soils, which give the wines from here unique earthy, floral aromas. Colgin Cellars produces a range of red wines which have earned the estate a cult following. These Napa Valley wines have received 100-point ratings from Robert Parker for 5 different vintages. As the production remains quite low (around the same as that of Petus, or roughly 50,000 bottles per year) and the demand is always high, these wines are extremely rare and difficult to find. In 2017, the LVMH luxury giant and owner of Château d'Yquem, Dom Pérignon, Cloudy Bay and Château Cheval Blanc to name a few, bought 60% of the shares in the domain and became majority shareholder in the estate.
| Vintage | Packing | Offers | Bids | Market Price | WA Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 12 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 27195 | |
| 2002 | 3 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 6798.75 | |
| 2003 | 12 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 29395.32 | |
| 2003 | 3 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 7348.83 | |
| 2004 | 12 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 29746.68 | |
| 2004 | 3 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 7436.67 | |
| 2006 | 3 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2007 | 12 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 26670.84 | |
| 2007 | 3 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 6667.71 | |
| 2008 | 12 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 27427.44 | |
| 2008 | 3 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 6856.86 | |
| 2009 | 12 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 22360.8 | |
| 2009 | 3 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2010 | 12 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 54138.24 | |
| 2010 | 3 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 13534.56 | |
| 2010 | 6 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 27069.12 | |
| 2011 | 3 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2012 | 3 x 75cl | 1 | 0 | ||
| 2012 | 6 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2013 | 3 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2014 | 12 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 30429.12 | |
| 2014 | 3 x 75cl | 1 | 0 | 7607.28 | |
| 2015 | 3 x 75cl | 1 | 0 | ||
| 2016 | 1 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2016 | 12 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 34391.76 | |
| 2016 | 3 x 75cl | 2 | 0 | 8597.94 | |
| 2017 | 1 x 75cl | 1 | 0 | ||
| 2017 | 3 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2018 | 3 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2019 | 12 x 75cl | 0 | 0 | 38086.32 | |
| 2019 | 3 x 75cl | 1 | 0 | 9521.58 | |
| 2021 | 3 x 75cl | 1 | 0 |