Weekly Tasting Report (Feb 22-28, 2021): Colgin Cellars + more

The star of last week’s tastings was Napa Valley’s Colgin Cellars, one of America’s cult wine producers. I don’t remember tasting such refined and balanced Colgins; the wines seduced more by their complexity of aromas and flavors than their sheer power and fruit. This highlights what I wrote about Napa Valley’s most recent releases in cabernet sauvignon and red blends from the 2018 vintage. It’s a wonderful year producing relatively refined and harmonious reds, with fine-grained tannins that are extremely unique for modern Napa Valley wines.

“The wines don't necessarily go towards the absolute full-bodied part of the spectrum,” said Paul Roberts, chief operating officer at Colgin Cellars during a Tasting Interview over Zoom. “They have density but they also have a little bit of this richness without heaviness. They’re super intellectual but they're not ponderous. I think that it's the vintage and also the continued evolution of our [vineyard] sites and how we look at them. I think that 18 is going to be a vintage that’s hard to make a comparison.”

One of the four Colgin wines I rated is a perfect wine. Yes. It’s 100 points. I know it’s really expensive but the quality is phenomenal. I liked how all the wines were so expressive and not just competing for pure fruit concentration. Each wine expressed its specific terroir. The Tychson Hill cabernet was the essence of the grape with a purity of currants and forest floor character that took me deep into the soul of the wine and the vineyard just north of St. Helena. The Napa Valley IX Estate highlighted the estate vineyards on Pritchard Hill with its well-framed tannins and complexity of crushed stones and pine needles to the dark fruits, while the Cariad was more generous and riper showing the warmth of the Madrona Ranch in Calistoga. The Colgin Syrah was a triumph in 2018 with incredible northern Rhone (think Hermitage) blue fruits and crushed slate aromas and flavors with spices of cloves and black pepper.

Last week, I also tasted a small vertical of wines from Chateau Leoville Poyferre including: 2017, 2016, 2014, 2012, 2010, 2009, 2005, 2003, and 1982. The clear winner for me was the 2016 which I have always loved. It’s so typical of this super vintage with such clarity and distinguished power of fine tannins. It shows such panache and complexity. The 2010 was the runner up with a bigger and more opulent style of the times and it was just opening and beginning to be attractive to drink with a younger, fruitier nature. The 2009 was equally impressive and slightly more open while the 2005 was transparent and delicious but will improve for a long time. The most drinkable were the 2017 and 2012 with a firmness and freshness and plenty of character. The 2003 was also very drinkable even though it has a slightly rustic style with big tannins. Finally, the 1982 was fading a little and had taken on lots of tertiary character such as mushroom and wet wood and light raisins. It was a recorked bottle and perhaps not in the best shape.

We also rated a lot of Argentine wines last week and more are on the way as we taste our way through 1,500 samples or so. Catena and Matias Riccitelli offered the most interesting bottles last week. The Catenas have a high altitude wine estate in Mendoza focusing on pinot noir called Domaine Nico and they are very impressive to say the least with five different bottlings based on parcels of the vineyard at different altitudes. Check out which was my favorite below.

Meanwhile, Matias Riccitelli astounded and amused with his sublime and intense Matias Riccitelli Las Compuertas Luján de Cuyo República del Malbec 2018 and esoteric Matias Riccitelli Mendoza Blanco de la Casa 2020 ('house white' is the translation) which is a blend of sauvignon, semillon and chardonnay.

Dozens of 2017 Barolos were also on the tasting table last week and most were outstanding quality. Despite being hot and dry, the vintage managed to produce some fresh, framed and fruity nebbiolos, which are a nice transition from the more structured and serious 2016s. Some are at the same level of quality but slightly more open and flamboyant. Gaia Gaja of the famous Barolo and Barbaresco family calls the year a good one for modern Barolos and Barbarescos that allows people to drink the wines young. Check out the video. We have to agree that most of the 2017 Barolos rated this week seem to be drinkable only a few years after release, like 2023.

See below the many more-than-agreeable wines in this week’s report, with more to come.

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The list of wines below are bottles tasted and rated in the previous week by James and other tasters at JamesSuckling.com. They include many latest releases not yet in the market, but entering soon. Some will be included in upcoming tasting reports. 

Note: You can sort the wines below by country, vintage, score, and alphabetically by winery name, and can search for specific wines in the search bar.