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| Rob Williams - Cabernets and Blends | ||
Rob's "Wine of the Week" Archives So here is my wine review for the week of October 15th... COLGIN CABERNET SAUVINGON TYCHSON HILL VINEYARD 2004
Description: Colgin, along with Harlan estates, Bryant Family and a handful of other wineries have redefined high end Napa Cabs in the past 5 years. For starters, all of these wines cost at least $200 per bottle, most much more. In a passion where true neophytes and ignorant alleged connisuers claim that “Opus One” is a real wine, these wineries are setting the record straight with a non stop barrage of outstanding red wines year after year. For the price, though, most people never get to taste them. How and when I drank it: Friday afternoon October 12, beginning at 2pm How to get it: It’s a hard wine to get because they make less than 200 cases and generally sell it to their winery waiting list. If you can find a restaurant that has it, you’ll pay more than $500. Some on line sites will have it, you can often find it at auction, etc. My only complaint about most of these wineries is their lack of accessibility. Consumers need to be given the opportunity to enjoy the “high life.” How Much: At the winery, about 250 per bottle My Thoughts: No surprise here, if you’ve tasted what an enormous Napa cab should taste like in the past. Being a lover of Insignia and Foley Claret, I am prone to loving massive reds from Napa and this wine is definetly one of them. In fact, it’s too massive right now. You can feel the smooth, polished finish hiding in the bottle but it’s losing the battle right now against big tannins that are overwhelming the wine. That’s fine, because this wine needs time to blend together it’s flavors a little more. There is a sense of plum that is almost too strong, that will taper over time and join with the berry and vanilla flavors that are hiding. If you find a bottle of this, save it until at least 2010. Overall Score: As a guy that is completely willing to spend hundreds of dollars on a bottle of wine, a bottle like this always puts me in a quandary. On one hand, the quality is certainly there and this is a wine for the ages. On the other hand, for $100 less I can drink Insignia, a better wine ready to enjoy right now and for $150 less I can drink some excellent Napa reds from Paloma, Pride even Flora Springs. Since my grading system is based on value (how much great wine you get for the price) this is an average wine. In other words, yes, it’s in a class by itself, but no, that class shouldn’t cost you $250. 3 vines. COLGIN CABERNET SAUVINGON TYCHSON HILL VINEYARD 2004 =
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