Colgin Dinner with Ann Colgin

This was a lovely dinner put together by Water & Wine and hosted by the charming Ann Colgin and her equally warm husband. I was very impressed by the wines shown - the quality across the board was tremendous, with the 2005 Cariard standing out especially. I really liked how these wines were unashamedly Napa, speaking of their place with lovely sunny black fruitedness, but how they were also impeccably balanced and deliciously drinkable. They were certainly not rough, rustic bruisers in spite of high alcohol content. Very impressive. I only wish the prices were more sensible.

Les Amis has always been one of my favourite places to eat in Singapore and the food on the night was excellent, making some very nice pairings with the Colgin wines. The Angus beef and chanterelles were especially good with the 2008 IX Estate. With the food, the wine and the company of good friends, this was a great night all round.

• NV Pierre Paillard Champagne Grand Cru Brut Rosé 92 Points

  France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru

  This was very good. It had a beautiful nose, with rose petals and cherry fruit scents wed to more savoury aromas of earth, white meat and slightly browning appley notes. Very nice - there was a lovely umami-driven depth and complexity to that nose, a bit of surprise for an NV. The palate, on the other hand, was still very fresh and zippy. There was perhaps a bit less depth and development than suggested on the nose - but this was all about elegance, balance and clean focus, with really nice, precise flavours of cherry and fresh green apples moving into a citrus, lemony finish rounded off by a very fine, almost lacy mousse. Medium-bodied, but yet there was no lack of complexity or interest with the wine. A really nice, lively start to the dinner - I could drink bucket-loads of this.

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• 2005 Colgin Cariad 94 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Brilliant - this was a lovely drink. What a nose it had! With loads of flowery violet scents tumbling out of the glass along with deep wafts of black cherry, blackberry and cassis fruit flecked with more savoury bits of loamy earth, a touch of stewed meat and a nice sprinkling of sweet cardammon and cinamon spice. Enchanting, seductive stuff. The palate was lovely too. Young of course, but with a great velvety depth of dark fruited plums and cassis and blackberries lifted by bright acidity and well-chiselled tannins. There was great weight, yet there was also a lovely, transparent purity to the fruit as the wine stretched into a fine, long finish where the black-fruited flavours nestled alongside little motes of dried earth, spice and herbs - more cardammon and cloves, some rosemary and thyme, and hints of dried flowers. Ridiculously delicious. This was chewy, fruity, juicy - pure Napa - yet it was blessed with a beautiful balance and elegance that made it so easy to drink. Blink and you would completely miss the 15.6% alcohol one this. It was such a complete wine. Wonderful now, but it should be really singing in 5 years' time. I might have scored it even higher if not for the fact that it seemed to drop in the glass a bit with time, with some acidity sticking out at an awkward angle before it was refreshed by a fresh pour. A great wine though.

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• 2000 Colgin Cariad 93 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Very good indeed. This was mighty impressive for a child of the dismal 2000 vintage. It started out a bit weaker, a bit disjointed, but grew through the night to show as a rather charming wine that was perhaps the most Bordeaux-like of all the Cab blends that we had. It had an interesting nose of roasted capsicums and a bit of tobacco leaf, aromas floating out of the glass alongside sweet cherries, cassis and plums and maybe a bit of earth and a nice dose of sweet spices. There was some overt greenness at the edges of the bouquet at first, that that mellowed and melded with the fruit with time. It could almost have been a modern Bordeaux with a nose like that. Nice stuff. The palate too grew in the glass over the few hours after being poured, showing notes of white pepper sprinkled over clean flavours of plums, cassis and black cherries. Nice fruit there, with good depth for a 2000. The acidity did stick out a bit at awkward angles at first, especially on the attack, but it evened out very nicely past the midpalate, melting into a rounder, juicier and rather deliciously long finish, with toasty notes of dark cherry and cassis seasoned with more sweet spices. This was a wine of character. Not perfect, but very impressive for what it is. With time, the obvious acidity actually stood down more and more and an attractive savouriness started coming out in shades of earth, meat and warm spices. I enjoyed this quite a bit. Strangely, for what was the oldest wine on the night, it actually seemed to be the one that still needed the most time in the bottle given its structure and acidity. I would say that this deserves at least a good five years more in the bottle.

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• 2006 Colgin Syrah IX Estate 93 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Very big and rather too young to fully enjoy at the moment, but I thought this was very well-made indeed. It had a really attractive nose, with old world inflections of roasted meat and smoked bacon, cracked spices, garrigue and dried earth wed to to gobs of sweet new world dark-fruit and violet aromas, almost a bit candied at points. It worked though, I found this to be a very attractive bouquet. The palate certainly leaned more towards the rich, new wordly style, with loads of black fruit seasoned with some peppery spice and little hints of garrigue. Very juicy, crunchy fruit here, with a nice ring of purity its blackcurrant-led flavours. Nice silky tannins and a good bit of acidity lent the wine a nice balance to its rich weight as well, and there were some nice touches of complexity towards the finish. It left a bit to be desired in terms of length at first, but filled up quite decently with little notes of violets, licorice and slightly savoury coffee grounds. A very nice wine, but just a bit too big and in-your-face for me at the moment. Good potential though, and this should do very well with time. One to revisit in 5-6 years.

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• 2005 Colgin IX Estate 93 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  This was another smashing 2005 from Colgin. It had a lovely Napa Cab nose, resounding in rich, deep cassis aromas seasoned with sweet cardammon spice and dried rosemary and thyme herb, with a whiff of tobacco smoke hanging in the background alongside a bit of warm earth and a dusting of dried flower petals. Very complex and interesting. The palate was wonderfully poised, with a juicy, melting balance and super-fine tannins forming a fine-boned structure for the wine's rich, velvety flavours of black cherries, blackberries and cassis touched with a little more of the smoke and earth picked up on the nose. This was very finely detailed, balanced and wonderfully focused, so that it had a very effortless sense of strength all the way from its generous attack into a long, well-integrated finish. I got a sense that it was still rather tight, still not showing much of the tremendous complexity that lay hidden in its depths, so that it seemed almost a bit soul-less at points, but it is such a well put-together wine that one could happily sit on a case of this for many years yet with a bit of patience. Really solid - not quite as showy as the more Merlot-driven Cariad or the fruitier 2008, but this may well overtake both over the next decade.

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• 2008 Colgin IX Estate 94 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Superb. This was drinking really well for such a young Napa Cab. It had a dropdead gorgeous nose, with rich aromas of plums and blueberries layered on some dried dusty earth, dried flower petal scents and some smoky charcoal hints. A really complex bouquet for something so young. The palate had a lovely, bright freshness to it - almost like a modern Bordeaux with its well-integrated acidity and finely-structured backbone. This was an impression that was underscored by flecks of green tobacco leaf blowing around the wine's deep core of black fruit - blackcurrants, blackberries and dark cherries. Past the midpalate, the wine was touched with spice, herbs and hot stony accents drifting away in a long, charming finish, where little garrigue notes floated out from amidst the deep dark fruited flavours. Super-complex for a young wine. This had all the ripe, joyfully sunny fruit that you would expect from a Napa Cab, wed to the effortless balance and complex little spice nuances that seem to be a hallmark of Colgin wines, and a nice touch of old-world finesse in its shape and structure. Quite a beautiful wine. Not quite as immediately impressive as the very complete 2005 Cariard, but this did seem to be a bit more charming and edgy. Would be nice to try this in five years' time to see how it has developed.

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