Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
The 2006 flagship Cabernet from Quilceda Creek is a massive wine that has just begun to emerge from its slumber. When first released the wine seemed to have entered a dumb phase, but six months later it responds to decanting and shows its muscle. Fruit flavors of black, brandied cherries, cassis and bourbon-soaked plums are wrapped in generous, layered oak. The wine is dusty, smoky, laced with streaks of licorice and brightened with sharp acids. It continues to expand further in the glass, adding flesh and spice to its frame, with a cedar/cigar box finish.
Cellar Selection -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon bursts with finesse and precision, the 15-year-old wine is immaculate, fresh, vibrant and is in great shape. The wine is at an impeccable point of life right now with a juicy frame, where the heart of the wine has had sufficient enough time to come together and harmonize, becoming seamless in the glass. I think we can extend its drinking window until 2028. Cheers!
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Wine Spectator
Very ripe and generous. Not a big wine, but brims with plum, currant, black olive, cedar and roasted meat flavors, all playing against crisp tannins and lingering on the tight finish. Needs time in the cellar in order to open and flourish.
Washington produces so many exciting wines, and that definitely includes Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. With over 10,000 acres under vine, Cabernet Sauvignon is now the most widely-grown varietal in the state. Terrific examples hail from sub-appellations like Red Mountain, Wahluke Slope, Horse Heaven Hills and Walla Walla Valley. One of the fascinations of these Columbia Valley Cabs is that they so often seem to have one foot in the New World and one in the Old. Representing the former are characteristics like the ripe, forward fruit that results from long sunny days during the growing season (up to two hours longer than in much of California). Old World similarities include an undeniable brightness from acidity, as well as notes of herbs, graphite and a dusty, sometimes gravelly minerality.
Whether you’re looking for a budget bottle for everyday enjoyment, or a stellar, world-class wine with tremendous aging potential, Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon wines can deliver the goods! Among the many fine options are bottles from Columbia Crest, Chateau Ste. Michelle, L’ecole #41, Quilceda Creek and Leonetti.