2006 Quilceda Creek Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
Vintage Notes:
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Winemakers:
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Paul Golitzin, Marv Crum, Alex Golitzin
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Varietals:
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97% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Merlot
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Vineyards:
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Champoux, Klipsun, Tapteil
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Barrels:
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100% New French Oak
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Time in Barrel:
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22 months
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Bottled:
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August 2008
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The 2006 growing season started off as a wet spring with heat spikes toward the end of May and June reducing
vigor. This was followed by a hot July and a mild Sept/Oct with some light precipitation allowing the fruit
to come off the vine in great condition. After a very stringent selection of the best barrels, we were able
to produce a classic Cabernet Sauvignon.
The 2006 Quilceda Creek Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is an intense and floral wine
that is packed with violets, blackberry, cassis, plum and chocolate. The wine has sublime purity, texture
and balance. Approachable now, it should reach maturity around 2015 and age for 25 or more years. While
we are particularly proud of the last four vintages of our flagship wine, the 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon
is one of the best wines our estate has ever produced, rivaling 2002, 2003 and 2005 in quality.
$125; Good deep ruby-red. Cassis, licorice pastille, violet, incense and sexy smoky oak on the nose. Densely packed, intense and sweet but
the most backward and primary of these 2006s. Wonderfully full, chocolatey fruit saturates the palate. Quilceda Creek's flagship bottling
has become more of a competition wine lately than this producer's examples in the '80s and '90s, but this very powerful wine boasts greater
vibrancy and focus than recent vintages and seems as much Pauillac in character as Napa Valley cult wine. Finishes ripe but classically
dry, with terrific medicinal reserve and slowly building tannins that reach the front teeth. A bit youthfully monolithic now, this
really demands cellaring.
Score: 95(+?)
Stephen Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, Nov/Dec 2009
The flagship 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon comes predominantly from the famous Champoux Vineyard in which the winery
is a partner. It was aged in 100% new oak. It sports a deep purple-color with a captivating nose of
spice box, sandalwood, truffle, Asian spices, incense, black cherry, and black currant. Opulent on the
palate (but elegant as well), it already reveals serious complexity, density, and succulence of fruit.
Enjoyable now but with at least 8-10 years of cellaring potential, this marvelous effort should have a
30 year lifespan.
In 1990, in Issue 69, after tasting a complete vertical of Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon, I wrote that
the winery was producing Washington's (and possibly America's) finest Cabernet Sauvignon. Little has
changed in the intervening years. The winery has been upgraded and the portfolio has been expanded, while
quality remains at the summit.
As a postscript, I was able to taste barrel samples of the 2007 collection. The Golitzins describe it
as an "exceptional vintage" a conclusion that I cannot dispute. The latest releases are from the
2006 vintage, a bit more challenging than 2005 or 2007, but a solid year by any standard.
Score: 99
Jay Miller, Wine Advocate, #185, October 2009