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Wine Information
Winemaker's comments
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 Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia Valley 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.
International Wine Cellar Review
$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(+?) pts
Stephen Tanzer, International Wine Cellar, Nov/Dec 2009
Wine Advocate Review
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 pts
Jay Miller, Wine Advocate, #185, October 2009
