2015 Quilceda Creek CVR Columbia Valley

JancisRobinson.com

• By Tamlyn Currin
  9/26/2022, (See more on JancisRobinson.com...)

  (Quilceda Creek, CVR Columbia Valley Red) Subscribe to see review text.

• By Stephen Tanzer
  Focus on Washington: The New Normal (Nov 2018), 11/1/2018, (See more on Vinous...)

  (Quilceda Creek Red Wine Cvr Washington Red) Login and sign up and see review text.

JebDunnuck.com

• By Jeb Dunnuck
  Latest Releases from Washington State, 4/5/2018, (See more on JebDunnuck.com...)

  (Quilceda Creek CVR Columbia Valley Red Wine) Login and sign up and see review text.

Full Pull

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull Quilceda Creek, 11/5/2017

  (Quilceda Creek Vintners CVR) Hello friends. We have the return today of a holiday-season tradition: our once-a-year shot at accessing wine from the inimitable Quilceda Creek Vintners.The story of Quilceda Creek begins with the story of Andre Tchelistcheff. By the time Tchelistcheff arrived in the Napa Valley in 1938 (to take the winemaking job at George de Latour’s Beaulieu Vineyards), he had already seen an eventful 37 years. Born in 1901 to a father who was the Chief Justice of the Russian Imperial Court, Tchelistcheff’s life changed dramatically with the Russian Revolution of 1917, after which he fought for three years in Russia’s Civil War. He was wounded on the battlefield, eventually recovered and rejoined his family, and then fled with them to Yugoslavia, and then onto Czechoslovakia and finally France, where he took up the study of oenology at the Institut National Agronomique. That’s where George de Latour found Tchelistcheff, and their meeting led to a 35-year partnership. It’s difficult to overstate Tchelistcheff’s impact on American winemaking. A smattering of the techniques he helped to introduce: Cold fermentation. Malolactic conversion. Frost protection in vineyards. Ageing wine in small oak barrels. Basically, if there’s a winemaking technique that modern vintners take for granted, chances are Tchelistcheff helped to introduce it in the United States. His fingerprints are all over California wine, and by the 1960s, he was doing consulting work in the Pacific Northwest as well. When Ste Michelle launched in 1967, it was under Tchelistcheff’s guidance. He also had a nephew, living north of Seattle, and he encouraged his relative to try his hand at Cabernet Sauvignon. That nephew was Alex Golitzin, who proceeded to produce about one barrel of Cabernet per year from 1974 through 1978. The results were encouraging enough that, in 1979, Golitzin launched Quilceda Creek Vintners as a commercial winery, producing 150 cases of Cabernet Sauvignon. Since then, the production has increased, but the winery’s focus on Cabernet Sauvignon has never wavered, even as the next generation (Alex’s son Paul Golitzin) has taken over as Director of Winemaking. The Golitzins’ intense focus on quality has yielded considerable rewards. Perfect 100pt reviews from Wine Advocate for the 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2014 vintages of Cabernet Sauvignon. The #2 spot in Wine Spectator’s 2015 Top 100 list for the 2012 vintage. In addition to the flagship Cabernet, Quilceda Creek also produces a single-vineyard wine from their 2001-planted estate Galitzine Vineyard on Red Mountain and a Merlot-based Bordeaux Blend called Palengat that includes a large dose of fruit from their estate Palengat Vineyard (2006-planted) in the Horse Heaven Hills. And then there’s CVR. CVR has become hugely popular among Washington wine lovers generally (and lovers of Quilceda Creek specifically), because it is a wine that brings plenty of youthful pleasure while we wait for the flagship Quilceda wines to come into their own in the cellar. It also offers a more accessible price point than the higher-tier wines (which range from $100-$140) while coming from the exact same vineyards (in this vintage Champoux, Galitzine, Palengat, and Wallula) and seeing similar treatment in the winery (100% classy new French oak barrels). Another item of note for the 2015: the proportion of Cabernet is considerably higher than any vintage of CVR we’ve previously offered: a full 81%, rounded out with 11% Merlot and 4% each Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. The aromas reflect the high proportion of Cab: blackcurrant and pomegranate fruit, dark minerality like asphalt, and fresh topnotes of violet and mint. I was prepared for the sheer deliciousness of this wine, given the pedigree of the winery and the warmth of the vintage. I was not prepared for the structure, the seriousness, and the complexity, all deeply impressive. This is a total powerhouse, a pleasure-bringer, with intensity and length and depth to spare. The balance of fruit and non-fruit elements is wonderful, the non-fruit elements combining mineral tones and savory notes of beetroot and rhubarb. Texturally, this is as polished and classy as you’d expect from the team involved, the tannins ripe and perfectly chewy, leaving a finishing impression of English breakfast tea.