2014 Red Wine Palengat

Quilceda Creek’s 2014 flagship Cabernet was one of the two or three best young Washington wines of my tastings this year, and Paul Golitzin agreed that he took selection of only the best fruit “to another level” beginning in 2014. His chief objective was to eliminate less-refined tannins in the wines. He is also more precise in the vineyards, growing the canopies early, pulling leaves at the optimal times—in other words, trying to push the harvest into October in order to get even better phenolic ripeness without sacrificing acidity or driving potential alcohol levels higher. The pHs of the Quilceda Creek ‘14s are around 3.95 but their firm total acidity energizes the wines.