Colgin Cellars – Interview with Ann Colgin

Colgin Cellars is owned by Ann Colgin who has helped forge a reputation for California wines amongst the greatest red wines of the world. From the first vintage in 1992 Colgin has produced exceptionally high quality wines from the hillside vineyards in the St. Helena region in the Napa Valley and the estate produces four wines: Tychson Hill Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Cariad Napa Valley Red, IX Estate Napa Valley Red and IX Estate Syrah.

Robert Parker considers the IX Estate to be “as close to a viticultural nirvana as I have ever seen”. Each of Colgin’s wines has its own distinctive personality that reflects the careful hand of winemaker Allison Tauziet that allows the grape and the earth to fully express themselves.

Ann Colgin was in town last week to show off the latest vintages from the winery and to conduct a tasting with some extremely fortunate wine lovers. So, Wine Times took the opportunity to sit down with Ann before she did the tasting and ask her a few questions about the wines and the region of California she loves so much.

WTHK: What first made you fall in love with wine?

AC: “I was living in London studying with Sotheby’s and I went to a wine tasting where there was just some really eye-opening wines and it was a whole new world for me so I got interested and started going to more wine tastings. When I moved to New York I got to know more people in the wine retail industry and did more studying of the subject. I stared going out to Napa Valley on a regular basis and got to know a lot of the vintners in Napa”.

WTHK: Many things relate to the number nine at Colgin – you were married on the 9^th of the 9^th, your vineyard holds that number too. Can you explain more about this?

AC: “The first thing is that the parcel where our winery is was parcel number nine on a hilltop that was originally broken up by a family that owned the whole piece of land. We were the first people to buy up there and we really loved this site because of a great east-facing slope that looks over a lake, it’s really just a wonderful environment. The whole time we were developing it we were calling it number nine as it was plot number nine. Joe, my husband, and I got married there on 9/9/2000. It’s a very good number for us and bodes well for wine and marriage as it means longevity”.

WTHK: What do you like most about creating wines in the Napa Valley?

AC: “I think Napa Valley is such a magical place especially for red wine varietals, particularly Cabernet. There’s just no other place like it really and it’s a great community of people there. The best thing for me about making and presenting the wines are that they really bring people together and we have met a lot of wonderfully interesting people in the art and entertainment world, people who we probably would never have met. It’s such a gratifying thing to do”.

WTHK: I know you are from Waco and I know you don’t like the name “cult wine”! What would you rather it be labeled, if you were to label it at all?

AC: “Well, I am not quite sure what the label should be. Whether it be the ‘first growth of Napa Valley’ or some designation such as that. I think the term cult is a little disconnected from what these wines really are as cult usually means a frenzy and passing fancy and the wines that are grouped into that group, the Screaming Eagle, the Colgin, the Harlan Estate are all now blue chips in the industry and the best of the best from Napa. So I don’t think there’s anything ‘passing’ about them”.

WTHK: What do you like to do when you are not dealing with Colgin Estate?

AC: “I am very involved in the art world and am on the board of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. I chair a benefit for them that’s coming up in April that also has a food and wine element to it thanks to me. I am involved in the Centre Pompidou Foundation which is an American group that helps select works of art for the Pompidou in Paris. There’s a lot to in Napa also with hiking and the great outdoors and with the lifestyle I lead I exercise a ton”!

WTHK: When you are not drinking Colgin wines, what are your preferences?

AC: “Some of my peer group wines in the Napa Valley and also my husband and I drink a lot of Burgundy, a lot of Bordeaux and Northern Rhone. We have a pretty extensive cellar of wines that are not our own and I think it’s really important to taste wines from around the world”.

WTHK: With respect to wine, if possible, what are your thoughts on the ban of Foie Gras in California?

AC: “Oh! I think it’s kind of an unfortunate situation. I think that people who love Foie Gras are eating it a lot now when they travel! I think it’s unfortunate for California. I don’t though think that the restaurants there have missed a beat as there are so many wonderful products in California to replace Foie Gras with. But for the person who really loves it, it is a delicacy and if you really analyse how a lot of things are made you’d probably end up banning a number of foods that we all enjoy. It has not affected fine dining in California at all though”.

Colgin wines are available in Hong Kong from Altaya wines and can be contacted by e-mail on info@altayawines.com or by phone on (+852) 2523 1945