2003 IX Estate

The 2003 IX Estate Proprietary Red is a blend of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot and rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot from their steep hillside vineyards. The youngest, tightest, most masculine wine of this quartet, it will benefit from another 5-6 years of cellaring and should have 25 years of life ahead of it. This impressive, blue/purple-colored 2003 behaves more like a 4- to 5-year-old wine than one that is a decade old. It is just beginning to strut its full potential. There is a roasted meaty character to this beauty, along with plenty of cassis, blackberries, blueberries, incense and spring flower notes. It admirably reveals the great terroir Ann Colgin and her husband, Joe Wender, have unlocked high above Lake Hennessey. When Colgin’s 2003s were made, winemaker Mark Aubert was working with Bordeaux consultant Dr. Alain Raynaud. Both remember 2003 as a year of small yields with a wet spring, a moderate summer, and huge heat spikes during the third week of September. Tel. (707) 963-0999

Ruby-red. Explosive aromas of black raspberry, minerals, graphite and flowers. Wonderfully sweet and dense, with a superripe suggestion of maple syrup and a note of hot rocks. Finishes with huge, chewy but well-buffered tannins and a lingering note of caramel. Perhaps the least lively today of these 2003s, but winemaker Aubert notes that the 2003 vintage in general here brought higher-than-average acidity. (ST)

(15.6% alcohol; a blend of 64% cabernet sauvignon, 31% merlot, 3% cabernet franc and 2% petit verdot) Saturated deep ruby. Roasted black raspberry and fla mboyant chocolatey oak on the nose. Lush and seamless, with a texture of liquid velvet. Compelling, primary flavors of blackberry, chocolate and flowers. Perhaps best today on the huge, rising finish, which features substantial but utterly lush tannins that reach the front teeth and great lingering sweetness. This will be just the second commercial vintage from the steep hillsides around this mountaintop winery overlooking Lake Hennessey