Winemaker Notes
Blend: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon is lighter in color and has a subdued nose at first. After getting the glass spinning, the wine reveals its secrets with sweet oak tones, dark red fruit and wilted red flowers. The Cabernet is juicy with layers of redcurrants and cassis as it shows defined notions of black plum and dark cherry skin in the glass. Full-bodied, the wine bursts with kaleidoscopic sensations, boasting power and precision that shares many of the same key elements of cult Napa Cabernet bottlings and worthy of the coveted triple digits. With impeccable weight and texture, the wine offers up an excellent palate with purity of fruit flavors and silky French oak essences that wind down in the mouth, with impeccably balanced tannins across the mid-palate. Seeing the progression of Quilceda Creek over the 20-year vertical tasting, I am completely surprised by how well the 2013 is showing, as it has had plenty of time to harmonize in the bottle and round out its edges.
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Wine Spectator
Broad and expressive, layering black cherry, plum, pear and black tea flavors into a beam that focuses the finish against well-managed but present tannins. Has depth, marvelous expression and length. Best from 2018 through 2025.
Quilceda Creek has earned some of the highest reviews and awards of any winery in the United States: thirty - four 100 - point scores from seven different critics across Wine Advocate, Decanter, International Wine Report, The Wine Independent , and OwenBargreen.com . Additionally, Quilceda Creek was awarded four top 10 wines of the year in Wine Spectator , and Wine Enthusiast ’ s Best Cabernet of the Year.
Since 1978 Quilceda Creek has focused exclusively on producing exceptional Cabernet Sauvignons that rival and surpass the quality and pedigree of the finest Cabernet Sauvignons in the world. When Alex Golitzin founded Quilceda Creek, he took his uncle André Tchelistcheff ’ s advice to heart: make one wine and make it well. And for Alex, there was no doubt that wine would be Cabernet Sauvignon. In the several decades since, Quilceda Creek has never wavered from this focus, relentlessly pursuing perfection with every vintage. Their exclusive portfolio of vineyards in Washington State set Quilceda Creek apart. As the 12th bonded winery in the state post Prohibition, Quilceda Creek ’ s longevity has given them years to refine their vineyard sourcing and perfect their farming practices. As the industry and vine acreage in Washington State have grown, they have used their depth of knowledge and experience to their advantage, singling out properties with the combination of geography, climate and soils capable of producing layered and complex Cabernet Sauvignons. Their exclusive portfolio of v ineyards in the Columbia Valley AVA sub - appellations of Horse Heaven Hills and Red Mountain include some of Washington State ’ s most historic and revered vineyard properties. Meticulously farmed by their crew year after year, Champoux, Mach One and Galitzin e vineyards consistently produce acclaimed Cabernet Sauvignons that set the standards for exceptional quality.
Quilceda Creek would not be what it is today without Paul Golitzin, Alex and Jeannette Golitzin ’ s son and Quilceda Creek ’ s President and Winemak er. Growing up at the winery and with winemaking mentors such as his father, Alex, and his great uncle, André Tchelistcheff, Paul was immersed in the lifestyle of the wine industry from an early age, both its hard, physical labor and its culture of beauty and craftsmanship. When he was named winemaker in 1992, just 14 years after Quilceda Creek was founded, Paul made it his mission to bring the winery to new heights of quality. He became laser focused on vineyard sourcing, precision viticultural practices a nd new techniques and technologies in the winery. He began experimenting with yeasts, worked with coopers to develop custom barrels for Quilceda Creek, and kept scrupulous historical vineyard and vintage records to identify the strongest blocks and rows at each property. It is Paul ’ s inspired blend of virtuosity and precision that has resulted in the long string of highly acclaimed wines for which Quilceda Creek is widely known. Under his leadership, Quilceda Creek has solidified its position as a benchmark producer of Cabernet Sauvignon, not only in Washington State, but the world over. Far from resting on his laurels, Paul continues to experiment constantly, following his own dictum that “the best Cabernet Sauvignon Quilceda Creek has made is its next”.
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.