2020 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Tchelistcheff Mach One Vineyard Clone 412
Market price
Buying options
Tasting notes
Also from the Mach One Vineyard yet all Clone 412 of Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon Tchelistcheff is a more classic Cabernet with its assorted blackcurrant, cassis, tobacco, lead pencil, and spicy aromatics. These carry to a medium to full-bodied Cabernet with beautiful tannins, good mid-palate density, and outstanding length. It has the slightly more narrow, clipped style of many 2020s, but the balance is spot on, the tannins are ripe and integrated, and it's going to benefit from 4-5 years of bottle age.
Critic scores
Jeb Dunnuck
Eric Guido, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Firm, generous and deeply layered, the 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon Tchelistcheff Clone 412 offers juicy blackberry aromas and a delicate mineral essence that sways with dusty florals. Full-bodied, sturdy and succulent with juicy dark cherries, dusty plums and silky oak spices, the wine is fresh and mouthwatering with generously layered fruit expressions. The wine somersaults across the mid-palate and glides to an ever-evolving, elongated, food-friendly finish that compresses slightly, showing a firm tannic edge. Give it at least two more years in the bottle before enjoying, and decanting for at least 30 minutes is recommended. Bravo!
The 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon Tchelistcheff Clone 412 Mach One Vineyard smolders up from the glass with a savory mix of black currants, cracked black pepper, exotic spice and bay leaf lifted by a mentholated freshness. This splashes across the palate with the silkiest textures imaginable, guided by zesty acidity, as depths of raspberry and dark exotic spice swirl throughout. The 2020 melts away like molten chocolate, leaving a contrasting mix of bitter cocoa and sweet herbal tones to linger impossibly long, as a web of gently grippy tannins tugs at the senses. It will be years before the Tchelistcheff is truly ready to reveal all of its hidden charms, yet it will be worth waiting for.
About the producer
Founded in 1978, Quilceda Creek helped put Washington Cabernet on the world stage. Mentored by André Tchelistcheff, the family-owned winery became renowned for its powerful, age-worthy Cabernets and was the first U.S. winery outside California to earn 100 points from Wine Advocate.