2005 Colgin - Red IX Estate Proprietary Blend - USA - California - Napa - Napa Valley - Red

($275) Good medium ruby-red. The most reticent of these 2005s but with lovely purity and subtlety to its aromas of black plum, sage oil, chocolate liqueur, licorice and smoked meat. Lush, pure and sweet, with lovely spicy lift to the complex flavors of plum, minerals and dried herbs. A wonderfully seamless wine that finishes with youthful medicinal reserve and building but thoroughly ripe tannins. A Medoc-like blend of 65% cabernet sauvignon, 20% merlot, 10% cab franc and 5% petit verdot.

My favorite of the 2005 Colgins is the 2005 IX Proprietary Red Estate, a blend of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. The good news is that there are 1,500 cases of this blockbuster wine, which has a Bordeaux framework but the exuberance and richness as well as fruit purity of a great Napa wine. Deep purple in color with an extraordinary nose of scorched earth, blueberries, and black currants intermixed with some subtle charcoal notes, spice, box and spring flowers, it is very full-bodied, but beautifully structured and well-delineated. With good acidity despite what is an extremely high pH (3.9), the total acids are reasonable. This is a beauty of harmony, power, and great intensity, but it is light on its feet, and an exceptional example of what this high-elevation hillside estate vineyard is capable of producing.

Serves up a rich, complex array of flavors, built around cedary oak, ripe currant and black cherry, with hints of leather and spice. Ends with a long, intricate finish that pulls all the flavors together. Firmly tannic. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.

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