Community Tasting Notes 22

• gteran76 Likes this wine: 93 points

  January 8, 2023 - Decanted for about one hour and consumed during the next 2. The wine is big and bold, dark ruby in color, sublime nose, firm tanins, very dry and restrained.
  
  Paired with Churrasco and Gallo Pinto.
  
  This wine has a very long life ahead of it...

  1 person found this helpful Comment

• Somm David T Likes this wine: 94 points

  October 31, 2022 - Scoring this straight out of the bottle w/ 10 minutes of air. Follow up notes for an hour afterwards.
  
  I also should say that Backus is not necessarily my favorite wine from Phelps. I generally prefer their Insignia. This Backus is better than most in memory.
  
  The nose shows fruits that are slightly stewed, yet have some syrupy notes with withering to decayed florals, core of anise to licorice candy, blackberries, black plum, dark cherries, purple fruit; gooseberries, boysenberries, dark Indian/Asian spices, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, some rubber toy, rich, dark soil on forest floor w/ dry leaves, lush, ruby, candied violets, steeped, black fruit tea, ruby & candied, dark, red, florals, wet clay, hint of fresh herbaceousness & eucalyptus.
  
  The palate is big, ruby and lush. It is a bit of complex wine candy here. The tannins are still big, meaty, dry and tarry. This is still youthful. The 08 still needs another 5-8 years. The fruit are fresh, juicy & gorgeous. Blackberries, black, stewed plum w/ plenty of skin, dark cherries, poached strawberries, gooseberries, boysenberries, raspberries as it opens up, very dry cranberries, dry top soil, dry crushed rocks, Rutherford dust, yet moist clay as well, core of anise to black licorice, saw dust, cigar box, & leather, dark spice, nutmeg, cinnamon, lite vanilla, dark, cocoa powder, eucalyptus, dry twig, tree bark with some sap, black tea bag, dry meaty tannins, black, moist soil (forest floor) with dry leaves, withering florals that are dark, red, purple, nice acidity not great with a long elegant finish that runs dry at the end. Still show some astringency.
  
  Wait on this for better evolution & integration…10 years if you have the patience and proper storage. You’ll get another 2-3 points from the 94 I give it today.

  3 people found this helpful

• gteran76 Likes this wine: 93 points

  February 20, 2022 - From a magnum. The owner said to have decanted it for over one hour and then back into the bottle.
  
  Big body, very dry with a moca and dry fruits profile. The finish is very nice.

  1 person found this helpful Comment

• Geaux Tigers Does not like this wine:

  September 11, 2021 - I thought the last bottle might be ‘off’ but alas it appears the lot I got at auction may have not been stored properly. I can’t imagine Phelps making a wine that goes off a cliff at 12 yrs. Instead of a 13 yr old Napa gem, this drank like a tired, 25 year old Bordeaux from a warm year. I wouldn’t call it corked but it certainly wasn’t bad nor was it good. Drinkable but completely boring. A few tertiary type notes and zero fruit. In two words, extremely disappointing.

  1 person found this helpful Comment

• vpoms wrote: 93 points

  January 30, 2021 - Very deep garnet. Clean and powerful nose of dried blueberries, prunes, flint, eucalyptus, chocolate, leather. Wine is fully developed. Palate: dry, silky smooth tannins with great mouthfeel, high alcohol, full body, pronounced flavors or earth, cured meat, dried cherry, bitter chocolate. Finish is where this wine is lacking: medium at best. Very good now and can be aged further.

  Comment

Pro Reviews 2

Wine Definition

• Vintage 2008
• Type Red
• Producer Joseph Phelps
• Varietal Cabernet Sauvignon
• Designation n/a
• Vineyard Backus Vineyard
• Country USA
• Region California
• SubRegion Napa Valley
• Appellation Oakville
• UPC Code 010465229908

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 0 (0%)
• In Cellars 2,015 (69%)
• Consumed 918 (31%)

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