Compared to the Cabernet Sauvignon Galitzine Vineyard, the 2018 Palengat Red Wine is ripe and floral, with a softer, more compact frame. The wine is expressive and seductive with plum notes and hints of crème de cassis and dark cherry before a delightful floral lift wafts from the glass with elegant oak tones. Medium to full-bodied, the wine is balanced and offers succulent acidity with a well-framed expression that is not overdone yet brings me back for another sip. As the wine sits in the glass between sips, it seduces me further and my only choice is to give in and enjoy it. For the first time in a while, I enjoy the Palengat almost equal to the Galitzine Cabernet, but they are entirely different beasts.

A blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc, the 2017 Palengat Red Wine explodes with power and finesse, combining aromas of graphite and pencil shavings with an undercurrent of juicy blackberry, dark cherry skin, robust plum and red and purple flowers before swaying with elegant baking spices from being rested in 100% French oak for 20 months. Full-bodied and tightly wound, the juicy, mouth-watering fruit expression has ample opportunity to absorb all the French oak across the mid-palate, which seems to lift the expression synergistically. While the label states it’s 14.8% alcohol, the complexity and depth of the wine never pull you toward a hot expression, which some might expect. Prevailing for more than a minute, the wine concludes with a continually evolving finish that repeatedly flips between robust fruit expression and subtle minerality with elegant oak and floral tones on the finish. Only 1,025 cases were produced and will undoubtedly sell out quickly. This will age for more than two decades.

A members-only bottling composed of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot and 6% Cabernet Franc, the nose of the 2016 Palengat Vineyard is filled with robust black and dark red fruit along with subtle floral aromas and savory spices. Medium to full-bodied, the wine is rich and hearty on the palate, with a stream of minerality that merges into a strict tannic edge. It concludes with an abundance of oak on the long finish. Only 1,275 cases were made.

The 2015 Palengat Vineyard is already quite expressive, wafting from the glass with sweet aromas of ripe red and black cherries, pencil lead, licorice and a nicely integrated framing of toasty new oak. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, supple and expansive, cutting a broad swath across the palate, with its ample chassis of velvety tannins concealed by a generous core of succulent fruit. The finish is long and subtly oak inflected. It's already drinking well and should be worth following for a dozen years. Unabashedly pleasure giving and texturally polished, the Palengat is one of the highlights of Quilceda Creek's 2015 portfolio. It's a blend of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot, and 6% Cabernet Franc that spent 20 months in 100% new French oak.

A blend of 73% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Franc, the sensational 2014 Palengat Vineyard is loaded with notions of chocolate covered plums, licorice, roasted herbs, and graphite/lead pencil shavings. Up there with the of the top vintages of the cuvee, this full-bodied, rounded and hedonistic 2014 shines in the vintage, has no hard edges, gorgeous purity, and plenty of ripe, sweet tannin. It’s a serious mouthful of a Cabernet and will drink nicely for 10-15 years.