Community Tasting Notes (12) Avg Score: 88.1 points

  • It took a while for the barnyard notes to blow off and allow the tobacco, earth, cherry, forest and herb scents to emerge. Concentrated and deep, with rustic, old school textures, the wine ends with tart, spicy, peppery cherries. This is a nice, but not great example of classic California Cabernet Sauvignon.

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  • Tasted alongside a Far Niente Cab from the same vintage and the Phelps is definitely showing much better. Fresh black and red fruit on the nose, a little bit of cooked black cherries, black pepper, alcohol and a prominent aroma of eucalyptus or something similar. Ripe red fruit on the palate and a good bit of body left here. I would definitely drink it up soon, while it is still showing well.

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  • Cherry/garnet in colour, some faded cherry and blackberry on the nose along with earthiness, leather and black pepper. Definitely showing some sherry characteristics - if you still have this it is time to drink it.

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  • With AK - Heavy sediment, very dark and deeply colored. Very promising bouquet upon opening and decanting, but totally closed in on palate. After an hour started to open - continued to aerate throughout as wine continued to unfold - probably needs 2 1/2 hours to fully open (2+ hours minimum). This is an old-time heavy-hitter - very muscular, tannic & structured - acidity that really gets the taste buds tingling and the juices flowing. This is now all secondary characteristics on the palate, which is big & bold, with leather uppermost and licorice in the background, and is complemented by a fine nose that is big & rich and hints at over-ripeness. We both felt there was something distinctly Bordeaux-like about the wine in an old-time, old-vine kind of way. I suggested it was Latour-like. It was clearly at its best at the very end, 4 hours after decanting. With each glass (I poured small glasses to give the wine more time to unfold) I noticed the wine was at its best shortly after being poured and then declined noticeably as it warmed and the tannins began to intrude. So, I suggest keeping this wine cool (60-62 degrees), breathing it fully before drinking, pouring small glasses, and consuming each pour before it gets too warm. I see no reason why it won't support another 30 years of peak drinking and appears capable of a little further improvement. A wine for patient old men that requires careful handling.

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  • All the tannin survived, but not the fruit. If you still have this, toss?

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  • I pulled two 1984 cabs out to celebrate Leap Day...the Inglenook Reunion and the Phelps Eisele. Both have been written up as "over the hill". Like with many older cabs I expected that there would be little or no time needed for airing the wines. Boy, was I wrong. On opening this was closed and concentrated, so we started on the Reunion instead. About two hours after opening the Eisele, the wine began to open up. It was an intense wine from start to finish with plenty of different flavors for any palate. The nose hinted at eucalyptus and initial tastes of the wine confirmed the nose, though that flavor dissipated over the course of the evening. Classic older cab with plenty of structure and fruit to go another 10 years, if properly stored. Bravo!!

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  • Tasted at Wine Down after Naples Winter Wine Auction with G-Squared, Paul Hobbs and other friends. Some thought the wine had lost its structure while others thought it still had life in it. Definetely drink now.

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  • After pulling an almost unstained 23 year old cork, the wine looked like it was 10 years old tops. Still tannic and youthful, this would continue to drink well for at least another 10 years and probably more like 20. Tasted like classic aged Cal Cab, which is not my cup of tea as I don't think the vast majority develop interesting secondaries, which was true for this botlle. But its ability to age was remarkable, and it had a freshness and verve that I would be surprised if modern Cal Cabs would have 23 years from now.

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  • Too old dry dead lifeless. Has some complex herbal tones but very harsh tannins. Drink now.

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  • ($100) Not much presence but still has some fruit. Balanced. Fading rapidly.

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  • At Singer & Foy survey of '84 cabs. Developed medium-ruby color. Brilliant. Good nose. Well-balanced, with lots of red fruit. Enticing. On the palate, it is very coarse and tough. There's a lot of fruit, perhaps not enough to outlast these tannins. May be good in 10 years, but who knows. 5-11-13-7: 86/100.

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  • With MPL and BLR at London Wine Bar at lunch. Dark ruby. Elegant, understated fruit in the nose. Very tannic, coarse monster. Lots of earthy fruit. Lengthy aftertaste. 5-10-14-6: 85/100.

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