2013
Quilceda Creek
Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
The 2013 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley is simply one of the finest wines we have ever made. An alluring opaque purple in the glass, it is vibrant with the flavors of raspberry, plum, cassis, and fig fruit with nuances of violets, graphite, cedar, and spice. The entire palate basks in its richness, generous flavor profile, wonderfully silky texture, and purity.
Made with 100 percent Cabernet Sauvignon from the Champoux, Palengat, and Wallula vineyards, and aged 20 months in new French oak, the 2013 is an undeniably impressive wine. But the 2013 growing season was not unlike others we’d enjoyed in the near past. It started with a warm spring that promoted early bud development, with the excellent weather that continued through April, providing good canopy growth to nurture and protect the grapes from the sun. A hot and dry August-November allowed for perfect ripening conditions, leading to a perfect wine.
Paul Golitzin, Director of Winemaking
100 points
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. I suspect this bottle will continue to drink phenomenally for the next year or two before entering its chrysalis stage, where the wine will close down for three to four years, emerging a mature wine with even more elegance and seductive tertiary elements. Bravo!
99 points
"I think the wine of the vintage, the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon from the Columbia Valley is flat out sensational, and flirts with perfection. Its inky ruby/purple color is followed by incredible notes of cassis, black currants, smoked herbs, licorice and graphite. These give way to a full-bodied, utterly seamless Cabernet that has full-bodied richness, ultra-fine tannin and a killer finish. While it possesses the elegance and purity of the vintage, it has a stacked mid-palate, and deserves 4-5 years of cellaring. It will have two decades or more of overall longevity."