2015
Quilceda Creek
“Palengat” Red Wine
For 2015, we pushed the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon even higher that we did in the past two vintages, to 81 percent. Merlot (13 percent) and Cabernet Franc (6 percent) play their roles, but this wine truly revels in an intensity and drive anchored by Cabernet.
It’s another in the long lineup of luxuriously sexy Cabernets made at Quilceda Creek. The wine is structured to emphasize its ripe plum and blueberry fruit with accents of anise, violets, cedar, and ginger. The fruit came from Champoux, Palengat, Lake Wallula, and Wallula Gap vineyards, all in the Horse Heaven Hills AVA. It has amazing precision and a fabulous, silky texture allowing for the highly perfumed aromatics of ripe plum and blueberry fruit with accents of anise, violets, cedar, ginger, and minerals. Aged for 20 months in 100 percent new French oak, it won’t peak until the 2030s but it is already showing nicely.
Paul Golitzin, Director of Winemaking
97 points
"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."