2013 Quilceda Creek Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

“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! (AM)” (04/2021)

“Dark red-ruby. Sensational, very ripe nose combines wild raspberry, mocha, cocoa powder, licorice, minerals and exotic spices, with an intriguing suggestion of alpine berries introducing a pungent topnote. At once creamy and intense, offering compelling inner-mouth perfume to its raspberry, spice and tropical dark chocolate flavors. Finishing with a serious spine of big, enveloping tannins and outstanding spicy persistence and perfume, this utterly complete wine is built for a long and eventful evolution in bottle. One of my candidates for wine of the 2013 vintage. (ST)” (11/2016)

“This wine is 100% varietal coming from Champoux, Palengat and Wallula Gap vineyards. The aromas bring plenty of appeal, with notes of incense, spice box and dark fruit that lead to full exquisitely balanced dark fruit flavors that show polish, poise and a lengthy finish. *Cellar Selection, Top 100 Wines of 2016* (SS)” (11/2016)

“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. (HS)” (09/2016)