Winemaker Notes
The 2015 Quilceda Creek Palengat Proprietary Red Wine was sourced from Champoux, Palengat, Lake Wallula and Wallula Gap Vineyards which are located in the Horse Heaven Hills AVA. It has amazing precision and a fabulous, silky texture allowing for the highly perfumed aromatics to display ripe plum and blueberry fruit with accents of anise, violets, cedar, ginger and minerals.
Blend: 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot and 6% Cabernet Franc.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2015 Palengat is a Cabernet Sauvignon-heavy blend that includes 13% Merlot and 6% Cabernet Franc. This gorgeous red offers a deep, rich, opulent style in its blackcurrants, baking spice, tobacco leaf, and graphite aromas and flavors. Possessing beautiful purity, ultra-fine tannin, a big, rich, concentrated style that somehow stays light and graceful, it's a sensational, elegant wine that will keep for 15-20 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Palengat Vineyard is already quite expressive, wafting from the glass with sweet aromas of ripe red and black cherries, pencil lead, licorice and a nicely integrated framing of toasty new oak. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, supple and expansive, cutting a broad swath across the palate, with its ample chassis of velvety tannins concealed by a generous core of succulent fruit. The finish is long and subtly oak inflected. It's already drinking well and should be worth following for a dozen years. Unabashedly pleasure giving and texturally polished, the Palengat is one of the highlights of Quilceda Creek's 2015 portfolio. It's a blend of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot, and 6% Cabernet Franc that spent 20 months in 100% new French oak.
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”.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
"Surely this is Horse Heaven!”
Its wide prairies and rolling expanses led an early pioneer to proclaim that the region looked like “horse heaven,” and as a result, the area was appropriately named. Horse Heaven Hills is in south central Washington state, geographically bound on its northern border by the Yakima River and in the south, by the larger Columbia River.
Its proximity to the Columbia River contributes to a variety of climactic factors that dramatically affect its grapes. In particular, an increase in wind from changes in pressure along the river, which flows from the cool and wet Pacific Ocean, inland to Washington’s hot and arid plains, creates 30% more wind than there would be otherwise. These winds moderate temperatures, protect against mold and rot, reduce the risk of early and late season frosts, diminish canopy size and toughen grape skins.
The vineyards bordering the river are on steep, south-facing, well-exposed slopes, with well-drained, sandy-loam soils. But the soils of the appellation are diverse throughout, ranging from wind-blown sand and loess, Missoula Flood sediment, and rocky basalt. Horse Heaven Hills has an arid continental climate with elevations ranging from 200 to 1,800 feet.
The first vines of the appellation were planted in 1972 in an optimal spot now referred to as the Champoux Vineyard. Today it remains the source of some of Washington’s most desirable and expensive Cabernet Sauvignons. In fact, the appellation as a whole boasts many of Washington’s top scoring wines. Its primary grape varieties are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Chardonnay and Riesling.