One of Colgin’s 100-point wines is the 2012 vintage, which received a perfect score from The Wine Advocate’s Robert Parker.
Colgin Cellars’ wines are supremely rare and exclusive. The Napa Valley winery sells fewer than 2,800 cases of wine per year to a handful of upscale restaurants and 8,000 members on its selective mailing list. Getting your hands on these complex and delectable red wines isn’t easy, particularly if you’re on the hunt for one of Colgin’s many 100-point vintages. These top-rated wines are highly sought-after among serious wine enthusiasts and tend to sell out very quickly on the secondary market.
However, if you can manage to find one, Colgin’s 100-point wines are some of the most secure investments you can make as a collector. These wines gain significantly in value as they age and are also incredibly concentrated in flavor, with lush, multilayered fruit and velvety tannins. In this guide, we’ve gathered together 100-point vintages from this iconic California winery as well as vintages with close-to-perfect scores for a list of some of the very best Colgin wines to add to your collection.
Why You Should Collect Colgin Wines
Founded by fine art dealer Ann Colgin in 1992, Colgin Cellars is one of the youngest wineries that consistently receives top scores from professional critics. From the very beginning, Colgin established itself as a truly exceptional producer. Ann Colgin carefully selected and purchased the finest plots in California’s famed St. Helena American Viticultural Area (AVA) and hired a team of skilled winemakers to craft very small batches of distinctive wines. Colgin’s first lead winemaker Helen Turley was a legend in the industry, having produced wine for Robert Mondavi, Peter Michael, Bryant Family Estate, Martinelli, La Jota, and later her own label Marcassin. Under her watch, Colgin Cellars quickly earned a reputation for crafting some of the most delicious Cabernet Sauvignon and Bordeaux-style blends in the region. In 1999, another California wine legend, Mark Aubert of Aubert winery, took over for Turley as the new lead winemaker for Colgin. He continued Colgin’s tradition of low yields, hand-picked fruit, and neoclassical winemaking techniques (a blend of traditional Bordelais winemaking with modern technology).
A 100-point Colgin vintage will increase significantly in value as it approaches maturity.
Because of these meticulous winemaking techniques, many of Colgin’s wines have earned perfect (100 points) and near-perfect (98+ points) scores from reputable critics. For instance, Robert Parker, formerly of Wine Advocate, has given 12 different Colgin wines perfect scores since 2002, and his colleague Lisa Perrotti-Brown recently gave the 2015 Colgin Red IX Estate and the 2015 Colgin Cabernet Sauvignon Tychson Hill Vineyard 100 points as well. Due to the exceptionally high quality of these wines, Colgin’s labels are a hot commodity among collectors. The rarity of these wines has made collectors even more eager to pay top dollar for Colgin’s 100-point vintages. For example, when it was being made, one of the producer’s rarest labels, Colgin Cabernet Sauvignon Herb Lamb Vineyard, had an extremely limited production run of fewer than 350 cases per vintage.
Since wine enthusiasts can only buy wine directly from the estate if they’re on the exclusive mailing list, there’s a booming secondary market for these labels, and many collectors seek out the highest quality bottles of Colgin that they can find for sale. A 100-point Colgin vintage will increase significantly in value as it approaches maturity (these wines can age for decades) and is likely to be in very high demand when it is at its peak. Investing in Colgin’s 100-point wines now will position you to resell your wine for a much greater profit in the future.
Colgin’s 100-Point Wines: The Top-Rated Vintages in History
For Colgin, 100-point wines aren’t unusual; many of this producer’s vintages are rated very highly. The following Colgin vintages received 100 points from at least one professional critic:
Colgin Cabernet Sauvignon Tychson Hill Vineyard
| Vintage | Tasting Notes |
| 2015 | “Medium to full-bodied, it has wonderful elegance and finesse in the mouth, offering many mineral, black fruit and savory layers, finishing long and perfumed.” – Lisa Perrotti-Brown, 100 points |
| 2013 | “This is slightly more tightly knit than the more ostentatious 2012, but both are wines to taste and drink before you die!” – Robert Parker, 100 points |
| 2012 | “An incredibly pure, rich, gorgeously constructed wine from a fabulous terroir, this is a stunner to drink now and over the next 30+ years.” – Robert Parker, 100 points |
| 2002 | “It is a real tour de force, so for those who are sitting on any appreciable stock of this, you’re lucky.” – Robert Parker, 100 points |
Colgin Cariad
| Vintage | Tasting Notes |
| 2010 | “One of the finest wines I tasted over the 12 days I spent tasting in Napa Valley in late August and early September. This remarkable 2010 should drink beautifully for 20 or more years.” – Robert Parker, 100 points |
| 2007 | “This is a compelling, even prodigious wine that hits all the palate’s sweet spots, possesses phenomenal upside potential, and is a modern day legend in the making.”- Robert Parker, 100 points |
| 2005 | “This is absolutely remarkable wine. As it sat in the glass, it developed some rather compelling chocolaty, licorice undertones. This is a great classic to drink over the next 20-25 years.” – Robert Parker, 100 points |
Colgin Red IX Estate
| Vintage | Tasting Notes |
| 2016 | “It possesses the most provocative earthy sparks, providing arresting depth to the very long, beautifully perfumed finish. Stunning.” – Lisa Perrotti-Brown, 100 points |
| 2015 | “Full-bodied, rich, firm and restrained, it has a lovely earthy, soft-spoken style at this youthful stage, promising great things to come over the forthcoming 25-30 years.” – Lisa Perrotti-Brown, 100 points |
| 2013 | “It is an utterly exceptional wine and a tribute to not only a great vineyard, but impeccable winemaking and upbringing.” – Robert Parker, 100 points |
| 2007 | “This is another seamless tour de force in winemaking. It should drink well for 25 or more years.” – Robert Parker, 100 points |
| 2006 | “With extraordinary intensity, beautiful purity, a texture and flavors that build incrementally on the palate, and a significantly long finish, this is a perfect wine.” – Robert Parker, 100 points |
Colgin Syrah IX Estate
| Vintage | Tasting Notes |
| 2016 | “Full-bodied and massive yet also thrillingly pure, seamless, elegant, and weightless. It’s certainly approachable today yet is going to benefit from two to four years of bottle age and keep for two decades.” – Jeb Dunnuck, 100 points |
| 2010 | “The 2010 IX Estate Syrah is one of the most compelling Syrahs ever made in California.” – Robert Parker, 100 points |
Robert Parker and Lisa Perrotti-Brown are among the most outspoken fans of Colgin wines. As two of the most well-known critics in the world, their opinions hold plenty of weight on the fine wine market. A perfect score from Wine Advocate often causes a wine’s average value to increase significantly, sometimes by hundreds of dollars per bottle.
It’s wise to look beyond the labels and vintages that received perfect scores from Wine Advocate.
However, it’s rare for all critics to agree on a wine’s overall quality. For example, some critics avoid giving out perfect scores to any young vintages, even if the wine is extraordinary. These critics prefer to wait until the wine is at or approaching maturity to make a final call. Moreover, every critic has different tastes and preferences. A perfect wine for Robert Parker may only be a near-perfect wine for Antonio Galloni of Vinous.
So, when you shop for Colgin wines, it’s wise to look beyond the labels and vintages that received perfect scores from Wine Advocate. Many other spectacular Colgin wines received 98+ points from at least one critic and are built to last, including:
Colgin Cabernet Sauvignon Tychson Hill Vineyard
Colgin Cariad
Colgin Red IX Estate
Colgin Syrah IX Estate
Colgin Cabernet Sauvignon Herb Lamb Vineyard
The benefit of investing in these wines is that they are generally easier to find and more affordable than Colgin’s 100-point wines. And as these wines age and develop greater complexity, they may earn higher scores from critics in the future. Today’s 98-point wine could easily become a 100-point wine a decade from now.
Investing in and Aging Colgin Wine
As one of the most sought-after and valuable California cult wineries, many collectors choose to resell Colgin wines rather than drink them. If you buy these wines from the coveted mailing list, the Cabernet Sauvignon Tychson Hill Vineyard, Cariad, and Red IX Estate labels each sell for about $500 per bottle. Syrah IX Estate wines sell for about $270 per bottle. However, once these wines reach the secondary market, these prices often increase dramatically. For example, a 100-point wine like 2015 Colgin Cabernet Sauvignon Tychson Hill Vineyard currently sells for $650 to $800 per bottle on the secondary market—hundreds of dollars more than when it was first released to members of the mailing list.
The best Colgin vintages can age for 30 years or more and should grow in value steadily over the decades.
The most profitable way to invest in Colgin wines is to get on the mailing list and buy wine directly from the estate. However, this isn’t always possible, as the waitlist usually takes three or more years to clear and any allocations you receive will be extremely limited. The next-best method is to buy top-quality bottles secondhand from a trustworthy online retailer while the wine is still young. The best Colgin vintages can age for 30 years or more and should grow in value steadily over the decades. The sooner you invest in these wines, the more profit you will make. If you plan on starting a collection of Colgin’s 100-point wines, now is the perfect time to buy.
Whether you are starting your high-end wine collection or adding to an established portfolio, Vinfolio is your partner in buying, selling, and professional storage. Contact us today to get access to the world’s finest wine.
