2012 IX Estate Syrah
Buying options
Tasting notes
The 2012 Syrah IX Estate is a step up over the 2007 and has a medium to full-bodied, ripe, sexy style as well as complex aromatics of darker berries, ground pepper, smoked game, and hints of bloody meat. It’s perfectly balanced and drinking at point today.
Critic scores
Average Score
Robert Parker
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
(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.
The wine that probably gets ignored, but shouldn’t be, is their small production of 350-400 cases of Syrah from their estate vineyard. The 2012 IX Syrah Estate blew me away, and I’ve said many times that it always tastes as if it’s co-fermented with Viognier, but it is always 100% Syrah. It has a honeysuckle, flowery, almost white/peachy component in the blackberry and meaty aromatics that always throw me off. The wine is aged in small oak, but the oak is concealed by the lavish amount of fruit, glycerin and extract. This is a super-intense, massive, yet elegant and complex Syrah that should drink well for 10-15 years.
About the producer
Colgin has been producing some of the finest Cabernet blends in Napa Valley since its first vintage in 1992. Within just 13 years, it was recognised as one of the top 50 wine estates in the world by Robert Parker.