Winemaker Notes
The 2022 "IX Estate" vintage offers a flourishing bouquet of vivid fruits, fragrant florals, earth, and spice. Classic cassis and red currant emerge from the glass with subtle notes of crushed flowers and bergamot tea. The soul of the wine bursts with an invigorating energy. Botanical herbs, subtle tobacco, and a touch of bouillon enhance the intricacies of this stimulating vintage. Silky, succulently textured tannins drench the palate, while hints of salted caramel and cracked pepper add a salivating sensibility. Flavors continue for a refreshingly long finish. Seductive yet awakening, the 2022 "IX Estate" is a charismatic wine to behold early yet will reveal continued pleasure and vitality for decades.
Blend: 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Cabernet Franc, 6% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
I’m speechless about this one. It’s a wine that makes you think of other great, classic wines. It’s full-bodied and tannic, with the intensity that Napa wines achieve in hot vintages, yet it remains tense and blue-fruited, showing that it’s a mountain red that was not affected by the extreme weather of the vintage. There are flavors of menthol and fresh thyme in the finish. A beguiling wine. A blend of about 70% cabernet sauvignon, 20% cabernet franc and some merlot and petit verdot. Drink after 2030, but exciting to taste now to understand its greatness.
-
Decanter
Enticing black cherry and blackberry fruit is laced with elegant cedarwood spice. The structure is impressive yet refined, with suave, leather-scented tannins, fresh tobacco and layers of incense, rich cocoa nibs, sandalwood and lavender on the finish. Full-bodied, this is built for long-term cellaring, yet offers remarkable upfront pleasure now. The blend contains 20% Cabernet Franc, 6% Merlot and 6% Petit Verdot. Fermented in stainless steel and aged for approximately 20 months in 60% new French oak.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Colgin's 2022 IX Estate—pronounced Nine Estate—is primarily Cabernet Sauvignon but also includes a fair dose of Cabernet Franc, plus Merlot and Petit Verdot. Picked well after the heat wave because of its location high on Pritchard Hill, it boasts stunning complexity on the nose: blueberry, boysenberry and loganberry, joined by sage, bay leaf, dusty earth and mocha. Full-bodied, it's tannic and firmly built, by far the most structural of Colgin's 2022s, but it does show a slight coarsening of texture on the lingering finish.
Rating: 98+ -
Jeb Dunnuck
From the estate vineyard that sees slightly lower daytime highs yet warmer nights, the 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon IX Estate is another deeply hued 2022 from this team that has so much to love. Red and black cherries, roasted herbs, licorice crushed stone, and graphite are just some of the nuances in this incredible Cabernet. With full-bodied richness, a deep, layered style, and just about flawless tannins, it will be accessible with just short-term cellaring yet still have two decades of longevity.
-
Vinous
The 2022 IX Estate opens with captivating aromatics. Cedar, tobacco, dried flowers, espresso, Mediterranean herbs and leather race across the palate. Vibrant and sculpted, the IX Estate is incredibly reticent at this stage. That should not be an issue in another few years' time. Like all the wines here in 2022, the IX Estate is on the understated side relative to most years. It could very well be one of the wines of the vintage.
Rating: 97+ -
Wine Spectator
Opens up with not-shy notes of boysenberry and plum compote that are threaded in turn with ganache and espresso crema hints. A firm alder frame and a deep, warm cast iron spine hold the finish in place, with the fruit pushing through slowly. Rather brooding in feel. An impressive effort for the vintage in terms of scale, though this is for fans of the style only. Best from 2026 through 2036.
Undoubtedly proving its merit over and over, Napa Valley is a now a leading force in the world of prestigious red wine regions. Though Cabernet Sauvignon dominates Napa Valley, other red varieties certainly thrive here. Important but often overlooked include Merlot and other Bordeaux varieties well-regarded on their own as well as for their blending capacities. Very old vine Zinfandel represents an important historical stronghold for the region and Pinot noir is produced in the cooler southern parts, close to the San Pablo Bay.
Perfectly situated running north to south, the valley acts as a corridor, pulling cool, moist air up from the San Pablo Bay in the evenings during the hot days of the growing season, which leads to even and slow grape ripening. Furthermore the valley claims over 100 soil variations including layers of volcanic, gravel, sand and silt—a combination excellent for world-class red wine production.