2003 | Quilceda Creek Winery | Cabernet Sauvignon

Deep medium ruby. Very deep aromas of currant, minerals, meat and smoke, with complicating notes of chocolate, tar and pastry dough. Tightly wound, penetrating and powerful, with terrific precision to the flavors of dark fruits, graphite and minerals. A very firmly structured wine that finishes with superb length, verve and grip.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: The 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon shares similarities in the glass with the 2005 and 2007 bottlings, as all three vintages have the same robust nose with dried cherries and cranberry essence and a soft prune character, which all showed better when the wines were young. The generosity of this wine seems to have caught up to it. Full-bodied, the palate is lively with firm, juicy tannins that should last five more years. Flavors of ripe, black and dark red fruits remain in the mouth, and there's an alcoholic lift on the finish, concluding with firm tannins.

• Wine Enthusiast: Lovely color and aromatics, this supremely powerful yet graceful wine sends up a mix of plum, berry, dust, mint and menthol. It’s spicy and young, and surprisingly light on its feet. The concentration here is different from a top-tier Napa Cabernet; the fruit has a pleasing elegance. The acids are firm but unobtrusive, the tannins are ripe, smooth but substantial, giving the wine some weight and power. As good as anything this superb producer has ever done. *Best of 2006, Cellar Selection*

Producer Information

Based in Snohomish, northern Seattle, Quilceda Creek Winery is one of Washington's most prestigious boutique wine producers. The winery's focus is on Cabernet Sauvignon, which has been very well received: the 2002 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon was the first American wine outside of California to be awarded 100 points by US wine critic Robert Parker. The winery was founded in 1978 by Alex Golitzin, who was inspired to make wine by his uncle, the now legendary André Tchelistcheff – one of the most significant winemakers in California at the time. Alex Golitzin's son, Paul, began working at the winery in 1992 and is now the winemaker. Quilceda only produces a small number of wines, and the flagship is the Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. The fruit for this is sourced from some of the best Washington vineyards in Red Mountain and Horse Heaven Hills, including the Galitzine Vineyard, the Wallula Vineyard and the Palengat Vineyard. In addition to the flagship wine, Quilceda produces a single-vineyard Galitzine Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, a Palengat Proprietary Red, and a Columbia Valley Red Wine which is made from declassified fruit. While Cabernet Sauvignon dominates the vineyards, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot are used to complete Quilceda's red blends, with the Palengat Proprietary Red using the smallest amount of Cabernet Sauvignon. From very early in its history, Quilceda Creek Winery has cemented a reputation for producing some of the finest wines in Washington. The first vintage of the flagship Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon won the Enological Society of the Northwest's Grand Prize in 1983. After the perfect score for the 2002 vintage, Robert Parker went on to award the 2003, 2005 and 2007 vintages each a 100-point score in the Wine Advocate. Former US president Barack Obama served the 2005 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon at a White House dinner with Chinese President Hu Jintao in 2011.

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