The winery is in a rather odd spot in northeastern Everett. You take I-5 to the 2 and head about four miles in the direction of Wenatchee. You get off in the middle of nowhere and make a short drive through a densely wooded area on a curvy rural road called Old Funk Boss Road (a must-mention as I am so jealous of that name) and then you pop up in a very very nice residential neighborhood devoid of any other commercial activity and there's the winery. No name out front that I recall seeing, just a rather grand building on a wide, tastefully-landscaped lot that could easily be a church or a community center as what it is. My twelve year old Jag convertible looked pretty shabby amidst all those Ferraris. (There were lots of them, which was only odd considering the paucity of other high end sports vehiculae; otherwise, in the celebrity-poor, unflaunty Pacific Northwest, somehow Ferraris and the Quilceda reputation kind of go together).
At the door, we were given two poker chips redeemable for generous tastes of the 2008 Red Wine and 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon. Before I say much else, do understand that I am close to a virgin where Quilceda Creek is concerned. Back in 03 or 04 a friend once bought a 2002 Cabernet which we opened and suffered through--big hard tannins, dense black wine, serious extraction are what I remember. The next youngest QC I had was a 2003 we opened last summer for friends visiting from L.A., which I seriously disliked: overly sweet and corpulent purple-blue fruit, blueberry milkshake, strong and porty. Fat fat fat. What a difference from he '92 QC we drank about five years ago, which was one of the most impressive Washington wines I've ever had. I know from reading that things changed around 2000, when the huge Parker scores started rolling in.
So I was quite surprised to taste the young '08 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon, their flagship wine. First off, I liked it. Black cherry and blackberry fruit, substantial body but not huge, velvet tannins, cedar, some tobacco and some oaky pepper-spice, blueberry-sweet finish. This wine does not have anything like the tannins of the 02 and lacks the stuffing to be an oozemonster like the 03, both 100 pt years I believe, rather it's polished and balanced and very drinkable now. Not at all over the top which I suspect will come across to the fanbase as dilute and disappointing, while still being pleasant enough to make $140 a bottle, or whatever it costs, no issue for name-droppers. The catering was quite fine, I must add: the grilled duck sliders on brioche served at the Cab table were a brilliant pairing for this wine.
Next, the 08 Quilceda Creek Red Wine. IIRC, 81% cabernet sauvignon, 13% merlot than cab franc "and this year, malbec", my host told me, suggesting that malbec hadn't been a factor in previous vintages. Wouldn't know, but in the glass I found plums and blackberries with a red-currant tang on a good mineral core. Though not gritty, raw or inelegant, the tannins were just slightly rough in a good way that gave this wine the kind of authentic mouthfeel I appreciate. It just seemed to be the grapes talking sans the manipulated elegance of the flagship wine at the other table. By far my favorite of the two. Making up for the lack of fat in the wine, at this table they served shredded short ribs piled on thin baguette crisps. Another very good pairing, btw.
We picked up Alan's case and got each bottle signed by the winemaker, then headed back home. It was now 63 degrees out, the warmest day of the last six months and the day that everyone in this kind of climate recognizes as the day you finally feel that spring is here at last, so with a warm Quilceda glow on, we put the top down and showed Old Funk Boss Road who's in charge.
