WRITTEN BY PAUL GREGUTT PHOTOGRAPHED BY BARRY WONG

	Quilceda Creek's Alex Golitzin (standing) built a first-class winery from a few converted milk tanks in his garage. Now his son, Paul, is in charge, pursuing a vow to take their winemaking "to a whole other level."

In the driveway was the family Oldsmobile, with a license plate reading CLARET. On the winery walls was the grand-prize plaque from the Seattle Enological Society, awarded to the 1979 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon, the winery's first release. In the back on most any weekend was young Paul Golitzin, wishing he were somewhere else, doing something a lot more fun than topping barrels.

Today, things are a bit different.

The Golitzins' once-isolated home and winery are now the gateway to the "Emerald Forest," an upscale community of posh new homes. The garage has been replaced by a 5,300-square-foot showplace. Quilceda Creek's signature cabernet sauvignon has been awarded 98 points by famed critic Robert Parker and become this state's most sought-after cult wine. The CLARET license plate is still on the family car. But a new winemaker is in charge.
 

NEW RELEASES Quilceda Creek 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon ($80). Aromatic, rich and textured, tight and dense with layer upon layer of black fruit, mineral, salt and pleasing hints of herb. Now in stores. Quilceda Creek 2001 Red Wine ($35). A gorgeous wine, supple and sweet with cassis, licorice and chocolate. Immediately, drinkably delicious. Sign up on the Web site mailing list (www.quilcedacreek.com) for advance notice of the fall release. Coming this fall.

Paul Golitzin, 33, is the tastemeister now. Forget any notions about father passing on his winemaking secrets to son, or son deferentially letting Dad think he's still holding the reins. "Paul is the leader here," says Alex. "Basically, this place does what he decides."

That's a mighty big change for a place that has never had a bad vintage, or even a bad wine. It's not as if something needed fixing. And despite his years of labor, Paul did not instantly embrace the life of the winemaker. "It was horrible," he says of his young apprenticeship. "For many years I despised the winery; I wanted to spread my wings and do something else."

Things took a turn for the better on a visit to Bordeaux in 1985. Alex and Paul were lunching with André Lurton, whose family owns high-profile estates in Bordeaux; 14 wines were set out. Paul, just 16, plowed into them with gusto. Alex remembers thinking, "Oh boy, he's gonna fall into the soup!"

Au contraire. "He says to me after lunch," Alex continues with a chuckle, "you know Dad, I really like this lifestyle."

"It was a defining moment," Paul agrees. By the end of the decade, he was making his first wines. These Quilceda Creek "Reserve" wines, made only in 1988, '89, '90 and '92, were experiments, prototypes. They proved so successful that in 1993 the decision was made to produce just a single cabernet, incorporating many of the techniques used in the reserves.

One who didn't entirely approve was Uncle André Tchelistcheff, the legendary winemaker from Napa Valley's Beaulieu Vineyards, who regularly visited the Northwest as a consultant to Stimson Lane. He thought they were "heavy-handed on the oak treatment," Paul says.

Nonetheless, Alex's famous uncle was a huge influence on both father and son.

"Just think about it," Paul recalls. "I'm this young kid, with André Tchelistcheff as a mentor, his son Dmitri, my father — it's amazing to be around those people, absolutely inspiring."

Today, père et fils are joined by Alex's sons-in-law, Marv Crum, assistant winemaker, and John Ware, national sales director. Handling the pressures of their enormous success and the growing pains that come with pioneering a new wine region might seem like too much for one family.

But this father and son are bonded by a passion for making wine. They focus on one wine, in the tradition of the very greatest Bordeaux (think Lafite, Latour). Washington, says Alex, "is the most spectacular place for Bordeaux varietals in the world. I don't think there's any place that can even come close."

Not even Bordeaux? "They only get two great vintages a decade," Alex opines. "How would you like to run a business where you only get two great vintages out of 10?" Besides, he continues, "I don't like green cabernet. In fact, I hate green cabernet. And he hates it even worse!" he adds with a flourish, pointing at Paul. "We want to make wines with a wonderful core of fruit, a strong sense of place and a minerality," says Paul. "Wines that will last." Now they are on a roll, a father-son tag team building on this theme of excellence.

Alex: "You've got to have wonderful fruit and work with it on a consistent basis." Paul: "We're not magicians; we try to pull out extra elements and put our signature on it." Alex: "We have special needs. We've got to have the top stuff all the time. You've got to really get control of your vineyard." Paul: "I want to redefine the whole scale by making a wine that's never been experienced before. A whole other level."

In their mutual pursuit of that goal, father and son have forged a meticulous partnership. Paul says his dad is "very intellectual, firm, an old-world kind of guy. I always want to outdo him. But he's easily influenced by me, because he's proud of me, I think."

To which Alex quickly replies, "You get your way because you're right." It's very clear that at Quilceda Creek, the torch has been successfully passed.