Ann Colgin and Joe Wender's love of wines from the Northern Rhone Valley inspired them to plant syrah at IX Estate. This rugged high elevation, east-facing slope with extremely rocky soil is proving to be an exceptional site for this varietal. Planted on low yielding old clones with pedigrees originating in the Cote-Rotie and Hermitage regions of France, IX Estate produces syrah with saturated black color, essences of wild blackberries and a sauvage note of game and animal.

Winemaking showcases the highly intense, ripe syrah grapes from the four different plots at the vineyard. Each plot is fermented separately in a combination of open top vats and conventional closed stainless steel fermenters. The 2003 wine had an average vatting time of 52 days and was aged for nineteen months in 100% new French oak barrels while maintaining fine lees contact to further increase the complexity and give greater body in the process. The wine was racked just once before bottling without fining or filtration.

Winemaker Mark Aubert's Tasting Notes-

The 2003 Colgin Syrah will mystify you with its overall expression of Northern Rhone nuances. Possessing the deep red to black color that is a hallmark of Colgin, this wine exhibits savory aromatics with fresh tobacco leaf and red, white and black pepper. Along with these primary fruit aromatics, the wine expresses terroir driven notes of earth, rock and clay. The overall tannin structure and mouthfeel is plush and ripe. The wine continually evolves in the glass, will drink well near term and has the structure to age beautifully in the bottle for ten to fifteen years.

We released 300 cases (approximately) of 2003 IX Estate Syrah in April 2006.