Colgin Cabernet Sauvignon Tychson Hill – A Complete Retrospective: 2000-2012

Ann Colgin’s rocky east-facing Tychson Hill vineyard, just north of St. Helena on the west side of Napa Valley, has a long and celebrated history. It derived its name in 1881, when it was purchased and planted by Josephine and Joseph Tychson. Not long before that the land had been owned by Charles Krug, one of the pioneer winemakers of Napa Valley and founder of the eponymous winery. Following the suicide of her husband, who had suffered from tuberculosis, Josephine Tychson constructed a small winery in 1886 (she was the first woman in Napa Valley to build a winery, as well as one of the first female vintners). But her venture was short-lived, owing to the phylloxera epidemic that became established in Napa Valley in 1893 and led to a plunge in grape and wine prices. The vines were eventually pulled out during Prohibition and the property was sold off in parcels, with Tychson’s son and daughter-in-law moving into the original house following her death in 1939.

Josephine Tychson on Horseback

Modern-Day History

Enter Ann Colgin, who had established Colgin Cellars in 1992, producing her early vintages entirely from the Herb Lamb Vineyard in the foothills of Howell Mountain. In 1996, Colgin bought 2-1/2 acres of fallow land and the original home on Tychson Hill (the entire purchase was just under five acres) and hired superstar viticulturalist David Abreu to plant the vineyard the following year. Since then, Colgin has been actively seeking to restore Josephine Tychson’s original holdings. In 2007, she signed a long-term lease on 1.3 acres of land just above her property and planted mostly Cabernet Sauvignon, with bits of Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc.

Then in 2012, Colgin bought a 1.8-acre adjacent property to the south, which she calls Josephine’s Hill, as it, too, was part of the original Tychson holding. The vines here were planted in 2014, also mostly to Cabernet Sauvignon but with small percentages of Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. Colgin most recently purchased another 0.6 acre just to the south of Josephine’s Hill, giving her the potential to produce wine from just over 6 acres of vines as soon as planting is finished and the new fruit comes onstream.