Wine Advisor
Colgin, IX Estate Syrah 2013
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The 2013 Syrah IX Estate may turn out to be better. It’s not as complex from a nuanced standpoint as the 2012, but it has possibly greater intensity than its sibling. Its blackberry fruit, charcoal, acacia flowers, grilled meats and beef tartare notes are all beautifully presented in a pure, succulent, opulent style. This is amazing sTuff, and a great example of a singular style of Syrah from Napa Valley. Drink now-2028.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2013 Syrah IX Estate is another total pleasure bomb. Sweet dark cherry, plum, mint, spices, chocolate, and expressive floral notes all flesh out in the glass. Massively tannic when it was young, the 2013 has acquired soft contours over time. With air, the 2013 could be drunk young, but it will be even better with time. This seamless, succulent Syrah has it all going on.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
A dark, beguiling beauty, the 2013 Syrah from IX Estate is shaping up to be magnificent. Exotic orange peel, graphite, mint and spices notes wrap around a core of deep, inky blue/blackish fruit. The 2013 is layered, spherical and loaded with multiple dimensions of nuance. Today, the preliminary blend is just as exciting as the component wines were from barrel.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
(75% new oak): Saturated deep ruby. Brooding, primary aromas of blackberry, cassis, black cherry, violet and licorice. Wonderfully tactile and chewy, showing more definition and detail today than the 2012 version in spite of its extreme youthfulness. Succulent purple fruit and spice flavors are complicated by a brisket-like meaty element I also found in the 2007 bottling at this tasting. At once bright and thick, this utterly seamless Syrah finishes with substantial dusty tannins and outstanding length.
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.
