Quilceda Creek Vertical

Zum Hirschen, Aarau, Switzerland
Tasted Friday, April 29, 2011 by mwanasheria with 1,679 views

Introduction

Quilceda Creek is the wine with the highest average Parker scores over the last five vintages (99.7 points on average from 2002 to 2007). We tasted through all modern Quilceda Creeks from 1990 onwards (the pre-1988s are in any event nowhere to be found) from the cellar of an early mailing list subscriber.

Flight 1 - En route for lunch in Beaune (1 Note)

Flight 2 - First flight: Some Chardonnays to get started (3 Notes)

Flight 3 - Table wine (1 Note)

  • 2003 Col Solare 89 Points

    USA, Washington, Columbia Valley

    This naturally paled in comparison to the Quilceda Creeks that were opened alongside. But this was a very correct Washington claret. Lots of fruit with notable cassis and blueberry. Hints of coffee, tobacco, leather.

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Flight 4 - Flight 2: Quilceda Creek 1990 - 1994 (5 Notes)

Flight 5 - Flight 3: Quilceda Creek 1995 - 1999 (5 Notes)

Flight 6 - Flight 4: Quilceda Creek 2000 - 2003 (4 Notes)

  • 2000 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 93 Points

    USA, Washington

    Another very elegant and silky wine before the heavyweights of later vintages. Silky tannins, good fruit, cedarwood, beautiful.

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  • 2001 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 94 Points

    USA, Washington

    This was too alcoholic for me to permit a higher score, this vintage does not seem to absorb the 15% very well. But everything else was there: good fruit, notes of chocolate, spices, leather, tobacco.

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  • 2002 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 98 Points

    USA, Washington

    A spectacular wine that hides the alcohol much better than its predecessor. Copious amount of fruit that shines through a very tannic backbone, nice sweetness and while heavy still silky and elegant.

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  • 2003 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 99 Points

    USA, Washington

    I liked this even better than the 02. To me this the more elegant and lighter wine. With nice freshness and acidity, but still spectacular fruit and a long long finish.

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Flight 7 - Flight 4: Quilceda Creek 2004 - 2007 (4 Notes)

  • 2004 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 93 Points

    USA, Washington, Columbia Valley

    This wine appeared a bit overdone, I thought it was a little one-dimensional. The fruit is there, good tannins and structure but the sparks of the prior vintages seemed to be missing.

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  • 2005 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 96 Points

    USA, Washington, Columbia Valley

    Amazing wine. As you'd expect lots of cassis, plums, some wood, good tannins.

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  • 2006 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 94 Points

    USA, Washington, Columbia Valley

    Cassis, cherries, sweet. Some spice, cedar, tobacco. Still early, maybe a tad alcoholic.

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  • 2007 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 97 Points

    USA, Washington, Columbia Valley

    Lots of everything (including alcohol). Sweet cassis, black cherries, blackcurrant, cedar, silky tannins. The score does not reflect that I thought that this is simply a better bottle of the same wines that I had before. The uniformity lately achieved by Quilceda across vintages is striking.

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Flight 8 - Flight 5: Findings from the restaurant's wine list (3 Notes)

  • 2007 Château Sociando-Mallet 92 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc

    Very chewy and fresh at the moment. Nice fruit, tannins well integrated. Had the second half of the bottle the day after and this was even better.

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  • 1997 Château Sociando-Mallet 88 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc

    Drinking exceptionally well right now. Great fruit and good silky texture. Medium finish.

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  • 1997 Château Phélan Ségur 86 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Estèphe

    Better than it should have been given the wine and the vintage. Drinking nicely with food. Not a lot in terms of complexity, but good fruit and balance.

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Closing

What came out in this vertical was that while the wines were all truly great, some even exceptional, they all seem to be cut from the same mold and taste strikeingly similar across (especially the recent) vintages. We were left wondering whether this is a good or a bad thing, i.e. to have a consistent hign nineties wine year in year out with little individual character of the vintage. It seems that in really good years Quilceda comes out a bit more concentrated, a bit fruitier, a bit more elegant (and more alcoholic), but it is essentially the same wine as in lesser vintages. Let's see what the future at this estate beholds.

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