Colgin "Cariad" 2000

Wow-wee! Now this was an extremely spectacular wine. One of my father's close friends in the wine industry actually gave this to him as a Christmas present, because we would otherwise have no means to get it since apparently it's a pretty coveted blend. It is, if I'm not mistaken, my first Napa Valley wine review. So let's get this started!

Okay, so in color, the wine was beautifully murky, as if it was trying to hide all of its lovely nuances. It was a deep and dark red, almost burgundy colored. Interestingly, upon swirling, half of the glass would quickly form its legs and the other would form them slowly. I have NO IDEA what that was all about. They were beautiful though, they shot an image of tears running down the glass in my mind.

On the nose, this wine changed dramatically throughout the bottle. We actually decanted the wine because the cork broke in the bottle, but that turned out the be a blessing in disguise; this wine benefitted from oxygen contact. At first it was aged fruit: red currant, black currant berries, with a dried mulberry note as well. Eventually, the fruit got thicker, and it became raspberry jam-like. Towards the end of the bottle, this fruit transformed even more dramatically, becoming virtually 100% leather and horsehair. The oak, throughout the wine's life was minimal, the other features really shone through.

In the mouth, the wine showed a lovely smooth and soft tannin structure. It had those previously mentioned fruits, which eventually led to a decadent and creamy raspberry chocolate-mousse finish. There was also a slight hazelnut dimension in there as well. The mid-palate had a small tart flavor, but that diminished eventually. I should also note that the 14.8% alcohol was definitely felt in the nose and drink. The wine also finished with a touch of a spice, maybe a very mild paprika.

Now besides the absolutely gorgeous combination of flavors in this wine, something else about it drove me crazy. The wine didn't specify the grape varieties in the blend, and my father and I had to almost guess our way to what the blend could be. We decided that it had no cabernet sauvignon, and that it had to be merlot and syrah based on its mouthfeel and flavors. However, we then looked up the varietals and tasting notes after we finished drinking it, and we couldn't have been more wrong. It was a Bordeaux blend: 55% cabernet sauvignon, 35% merlot, and 10% cabernet franc and petit verdot. Additionally, the tasting notes that the winemaker's website provided said, "Plum, sweet cranberry, and coffee bean..." along with other flavorful components. We were just so off, which just goes to prove that no matter how much wine you drink, there's still so much you don't know about it.

I will however sympathize with our evaluation by saying that the website's tasting notes were written when the wine was released in 2000, the wine must surely have changed by 2012. But oh well, this is what I got from this wine, and it was pretty phenomenal.