2009 Syrah IX Estate

Who knew that an isolated spot in the eastern hills above St. Helena, in an area best known for Cabernet Sauvignon, would produce one of America’s most consistently spectacular Syrah bottlings? Apparently, Ann Colgin did.

Ann Colgin established Colgin Cellars in 1992 and then in 1998 purchased a 125-acre high-altitude estate on volcanic soil in the Pritchard Hill area overlooking Lake Hennessey. She and her husband Joe Wender named their property IX Estate because it was parcel #9 when previously owned by the Long Family and because Ann married Joe on September 9 (9/9). In 2000, they planted 20 acres of vines on IX Estate and in 2002 they completed their winery there and vinified their first harvest—not just the IX Red Wine (a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot) but a 100% Syrah that was stunningly rich and complex from the get-go. Subsequent vintages have only proven the site’s greatness for Syrah.

This charity event at the Culinary Institute of America last October was special for so many reasons. First and foremost, the tasting and dinner at Press that followed raised over $110,000 for two very worthwhile causes, students in the CIA's wine program and a division of The Mount Sinai Hospital that treats children with terminal cancer. As for the wines, well, they were pretty special, too. The Culinary Institute of America's EcoLab Theater is a dramatic room. Designed as a classroom for cooking demonstrations, the audience is seated amphitheater-style while the presenters are on the ground floor. At times, it can be daunting to look up at all of those people. I did better this year than last year, when I arrived late for my own event! It must have been my Italian genes. By the time I walked into the room, I had spent over a month and a half in California in 2012 alone. During the ten days leading up to this memorable afternoon I had tasted virtually every major Napa Valley wine, many more than once. So, it would have been understandable if the twelve Syrahs I had chosen for the tasting might have suffered in comparison. Instead, the exact opposite happened. I was completely blown away. One after the other, the wines were just drop-dead gorgeous. As my co-host, Karen MacNeil, and I surveyed the wines, I knew instantly it was going to be a great tasting. And it was. Because I usually taste within each region in California separately, I don't often have the occasion to taste one variety across many different appellations. Based on what I heard from the audience, it turns out I am not alone. A number of attendees mentioned how much they enjoyed tasting a wide range of wines from different parts of the state. I felt the same way. I wanted to challenge the audience, and also take some risks. It isn't enough to taste a set of great wines, even when it is for charity. There has to be something more than that. Hopefully something that remains. So I decided to toss out the conventional rule of thumb when it comes to putting wines in flights of going from lightest to richest. I wanted to debunk one of the most common urban myths I often run across; the idea that delicate wines are easily overpowered in a group tasting. In tastings like this, there is often a wine or two that doesn't quite measure up to expectations. On this day, though, all the wines were just fabulous. Frankly, I had a hard time leaving the room. At the end of the afternoon, I could only marvel at the breadth and diversity of the wines we had tasted. For some reason (or reasons) Syrah has never caught on in a big way with consumers. I have heard a number of explanations for that, many of which were discussed during this tasting. There is no low-price, widely available, high quality Syrah in the market a la Kendall Jackson Chardonnay Vintner's Reserve that might turn on wider public, I was told. Others ascribed Syrah's lackluster performance in the market to an incredibly broad range of styles that might be too much for the average consumer to grasp. Fair point. We certainly saw a huge number of unique styles in these twelve wines alone. Some said consumers lack reference points for great Syrahs from France, while the wines of Bordeaux and Burgundy are more familiar. That makes sense, too. But the best California Syrahs need no reference to France, or anywhere else, for that matter. They stand on their own. I also heard that after an initial boom a few years back, Syrah is now overplanted. Not much anyone can do about that, I am afraid, at least not in the near term. Still, it is impossible to miss the central truth. Syrah is one of the most compelling grapes in California. Leaving aside the handful of famous wines that have reached high prices, the vast majority of California's Syrahs remain reasonably priced within the context of the world's great wines. I have no doubt that most, if not all, the bottles in this tasting would sell for two to three times as much if they said ‘Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon' on their labels. Savvy consumers who want to drink the world's best without spending a fortune will want to take a little time getting to know California's top Syrahs.

Winemaker Allison Tauziet describes 2010 as a year that started later than normal because of a cold March and early April. Conditions returned to normal in June, when temperatures increased. There were no heat spikes during the summer, but a period of heat in September allowed the fruit to catch up. The harvest took place between mid to late October. I also revisited the 2011s, which are now preliminary blends. Readers who want to learn more about Colgin might want to take a look at my video interview with Allison Tauziet filmed during the 2012 harvest. This is a striking set of wines from Ann Colgin, her husband Joe Wender, and the entire Colgin team.

Two thousand nine featured an average budbreak and flowering and felt classic from beginning to end, noted winemaker Allison Tauziet. A cool August with foggy days slowed down the ripening process, preserved acidity, and made for more mature tannins. There was a heat spike in early September but then the weather turned more moderate, said Tauziet, who carried out a shorter, gentler extraction as the tannins were easy to extract. "It's a perfumey vintage and we wanted to maintain freshness," she summarized. The 2010s had not been blended at the time of my visit.

Colgin fans will delight in the 2009s and 2010s, two vintages that are fabulous here. The 2009s capture the silkiness and early appeal of the year. They are incredibly appealing wines. The 2010s will probably prove to be even better. I tasted the 2010s from preliminary blends and then in several pure component lots. Let's just say there is a lot to look forward to. There is no expense spared at Colgin, and it shows in these fabulous wines. This is a great showing from Ann Colgin, her husband Joe Wender and their winemaker Alison Tauziet.

Winemaker Allison Tauziet describes the Colgin 2008s as "concentrated, refined wines that started out very firmly structured. During elevage, we had to build their middle palates. Now they are gaining weight in bottle." In contrast, she went on, the 2009s "were voluptuous from the beginning. Their tannins are easier and they will be approachable early." Limited rackings are done here, and Tauziet told me that the 2009s gained in richness and sweetness from lees contact, as most of the vintage wasn't racked until more than a year after the harvest (the 2008s were racked just twice prior to being bottled in July of 2010). The 2009 harvest was spread out over a full month, from the second week of September through the second week of October, she went on, while the 2008 harvest was over by the end of September. One of the keys to preserving quality in 2008, she said, was to declassify a lot of the early-picked merlot that was affected by heat spikes in late August and early September.