Quilceda Creek

Quilceda Creek are the flagbearers for Washington State Cabernet Sauvignon, and produce some of the most sought-after wines in the Northern hemisphere. It wasn’t until the mid-1970s that founders Alex and Jeannette Golitzin (nee Palengat) began making wine; a barrel a year of “trial” Cabernet Sauvignon made in their garage using grapes from Washington State. In 1978 the winery was established in Snohomish, on Washington State’s Western seaboard and just north of Seattle, and five years later in 1983 the winery won its first major award, with Quilceda Creek 1979 Cabernet Sauvignon winning a gold medal and the Grand Prize from the Enological Society of the Pacific Northwest. In 1986 the Golitzin family began sourcing fruit from Champoux vineyard in Washington’s Horse Heaven Hills AVA, and in 1988 they produced their first ever Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. You could say that the “modern” era began with Alex and Jeannette’s son Paul joining the business in 1992, where he has remained as Chief Winemaker ever since. In 2003 a brand new winery was built, and in 2006 the 2002 and 2003 were both awarded 100-point scores from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate.