Host your own wine tasting with John Glas

Quilceda Creek Tasting

This event marked the end of the wine club events for 2007 and certainly an event of this magnitude will be difficult to match next year. We usually meet at Biaggi’s for all the events but this one was at a private house. Vertical tastings are a great way to see how wines show from vintage to vintage. Below I have listed some comments in addition to the ratings of the wine.

Make sure if you are a collector of fine wine that you make it to a few of our events in 2007.

Intro Wines

2003 Pedestal Columbia Valley Merlot

Color: Dark ruby

Nose: Currants, earth

Taste: Spice with too much tannin at this point

Finish: Medium with heavy tannins, spice and a gritty component

Evaluation: This wine is very young and should be cellared for three to five before trying another. 89 points

2001 Quilceda Creek Columbia Valley Red Wine

Color: Medium red

Nose: Lots of heat with no detectable fruit at this stage

Taste: Spice, pepper, multi layered flavors with a buttery edge thrown in

Finish: Impressive and long with spice and red pepper

Evaluation: This wine was very good and had more of an aussie shiraz feel to it. 90 points

Comments: Both of the intro wines need some more cellar time. Personally I thought as I have said so many times before that the Columbia Crest Reserve Merlot for the money is the best in the US. The Pedestal shows no evidence of improving significantly.

Main Event 1990 through 2003

1990 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon

Color: Dark purple

Nose: Green pepper, forest floor, a hint of currants

Taste: Spice and red pepper

Finish: Medium with pepper and earth

Evaluation: Past it’s prime but certainly enjoyable. Drink up! 91 points

1992 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon

Color: Dark red

Nose: Forest floor and plum

Taste: Some fruit but earth dominated

Finish: Short but after 30 seconds a buttery flavor kicked in

Evaluation: Not as good as the 90 and should be consumed now. 88 points

1993 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon

Color: Medium purple

Nose: Mushroom, earth and forest floor

Taste: Some fruit left in this one featuring plum and tannins still provide a bit.

Finish: Red pepper and still a little tannic

Evaluation: This one still has some life and would improve with a year in the cellar. 91 points

1994 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon

Color: Medium purple

Color: Plum and earth

Taste: Multi layered with cherry, plum, spice and forest floor

Finish: Dry short finish with earth present

Evaluation: The finish was a disappointment. 90 points

Comments: The first four showed some age and didn't perform as well as we had hoped. Although all enjoyable we were not blown away but that was soon to change.
Decanted: All four were poured into a decanter and served within an hour as recommended my several board members. Additional time would have not improved these in my opinion.

1995 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon

Color: Dark purple

Nose: Forest floor, cherry and plum

Taste: Cherry, forest floor, little tart, plum

Finish: Multi layered with plum, tart cherries, buttery notes into a long impressive finish

Evaluation: A wine in balance at this stage and would decant an hour and enjoy! 94 points

1997 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon

Color: Dark purple

Nose: Plum, cherry and blueberries

Taste: Blueberries, cherry with some acidic qualities noticeable

Finish: Long multi layered with earth, mild tannins, vanilla, and slight oak

Evaluation: Great wine that still has some life. It was in perfect balance. 95 points

1998 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon

Color: Dark purple

Nose: Plum, cherry and powerful!

Taste: Floral, cherry, plum, earth and Asian spice

Finish: Long perfectly balanced wine that encompassed the nose and taste right into the finish.

Evaluation: I predicted that this would be my favorite wine of the night and it was a close second. 96 points

Comments: The 98 I thought would be my wine of the night and it was close. With some cellar time I figure the tannins would have softened and flavors would exploded which they did but my wine of the night and year was yet to come.
Decanted: About an hour and a half prior to serving. I would not go much more then two hours with these as I was pleased with their showing. I was surprised with all the wines so far that there was very little sediment but tons of flavor.

1999 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon

Color: Dark purple

Nose: Earth, plum and cherry

Taste: Smoke, spice, buttery rich taste, and a hint of floral

Finish: Complex finish with multi layers of flavors. Really balanced wine.

Evaluation: Another great effort that will improve with bottle time. 95 points

2000 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon

Color: Dark purple

Nose: Rich fruit, spice, plum and high alcohol

Taste: Spice and earth with a buttery flavor present

Finish: Asian spice, leading into a medium finish with buttery notes

Evaluation: More Bordeaux style then most of the other Quilceda's. 94 points

2001 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon

Color: Ruby red

Nose: Plum, cherry, rich spice and high alcohol

Taste: Thick with currant, spice and a powerful thick taste

Finish: Multi layered with an extremely long buttery finish

Evaluation: This wine was in perfect form and will improve with some cellar time. 96 points

Comments: The 99 and 01 were typically fruit powerhouses while the 00 was very Bordeaux styled. I really believe the 01 has the most potential to improve of all the wines so far. It could gain two points with a few years in the cellar. The late 90s and early 00s were just brilliant wines and would rival most Cali Cult wines in a blind tasting in my opinion.
Decanting: These wines were decanted about an hour and a half with the 01 getting three hours. Again they showed really well.

2002 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon

Color: Dark inky purple
Nose: Floral and spice
Taste: White pepper, floral, spice, earth.
Finish: A nice finish with floral, spice and earth dominating.
Evaluation: I basing this on potential. It did not have the fruit components of the 01 or 02 and I would assume it was the bottle with less decanting time. Certainly I won't ever see a 100 points in this one. 95 points

2003 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon

Color: Dark purple
Nose: Plum, earth, pencil lead
Taste: A huge mouthful of plum and spice with hints of pepper. Very complex.
Finish: A multi layered finish with spice, pepper, currants and a lingering buttery finish. This was a long extremely enjoyable finish.
Evaluation: My Wine of the Night and of the Year! 97+ and I could see how this would develop into a 100 pointer.

Comments: The notes are somewhere and will turn up. The 02 and 03 were completely different wines from memory. The 03 was the best Cab based wine I have ever had and I believe will achieve perfection. The 02 was not as impressive and I think it will be the weaker of the 2 vintages.
Decanting: The 02 we had 2 samples brought and I know one had 9 hours of air time and the other not as much. I am guessing I got the less aired out one and will just have to pop one open for New Years to see where it is at. The 03 was given at least 10 hours of air time and performed perfectly. Another 03 was going to be at the event with a last minute no show.

Thanks to Michael B. for hosting this unique event. The conversation as always gets better as the night goes on and we had a nice group of new people that were passionate about wine. I look forward to the 07 Wine Club Events!!!!!