April 6, 2024 - Another excellent bottle. Improves with decant, as the wine initially was a little tight and showed less fruit than in the past, but with a couple hours in the decanters it opened up. Great long finish.
March 30, 2024 - Dark crimson in color. 15.2% ABV. Stunning nose of blue fruits, molten licorice, Whitman Sampler Box and flowers. Tremendous structure and concentration. Impeccable balance. Dark fruits in spades. Blueberry, creme de cassis, vanilla bean and tobacco on the palate. Exceptional length on the finish with prominent silky tannins. Blockbuster Cabernet Sauvignon that should cruise to 25 years of age.
March 15, 2024 - Dark fruit profile with telltale Cab Sav notes asserting themselves on the nose. Full-bodied palate showing good freshness and a long dark cherry-infused finish. This was an excellent bottle which would have merited another point or two had it shown a bit more complexity. In the zone now.
February 14, 2024 - Fantastic! Ageing this to this point has really paid off. So balanced and delicious with the Porterhouse steak
January 14, 2024 - Absolutely gorgeous wine. Fruit, tannins, acidity all in the right place. Still has a long life ahead, unfortunately the last bottle for me
January 1, 2024 - Great tannins, fruit, and overall integration of this wine. Holding up impeccably. Drank at a tasting 2018 Bordeaux and 2012 Oakville Cabernet. Overall 2nd place behind Bordeaux; close.
December 25, 2023 - Took to a Christmas dinner party, along with a 2009 Mascot and a 2004 Etude. All three were great, but the Quilceda was spectacular. No detailed notes., because I was impaired when we started drinking the reds. In no immediate danger of going over the hill.
December 23, 2023 - Reminiscent of a wine that was probably amazing. From magnum, surprisingly the bottle was over the hill.
December 22, 2023 - Delightful dark fruit and reposed tannins, but overshadowed a little by the 15+% alcohol. I hadn’t noticed that with a prior bottle, fwiw. Your mileage may vary.
December 7, 2023 - [Served blind]
It seemed almost Rhone-like to me initially with it being quite fresh and plummy. It did not strike me as a Cabernet with it's lack of tannins despite its fruit intensity.
Quite a plush and round wine that was very easy to drink. Not over extracted but showing more sweet and round blue and black fruit. Has acid structure but the tannic structure was fully resolved already, indicating to me that this is peaking despite not many tertiary notes. 92 today for me.