Semi-guys night (My house): This was a killer old school Napa cabMethod: pop and pour; cellar temp; Cab glass; bottle in great condition. Forest floor, tobacco, leather, plum, red fruits, mushroom. The nose is expressive while the palate is elegant and boisterious.
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Guy's Night: Aged Bordeaux/Bordeaux Blends (Joe & Khem's Place, Mpls): Dark red color. PNP, drank a glass over 3 hour next to the '84 Dominus. I had never had Eisele from Phelps, so it was really great to try this. This has a more classic Napa profile than the Dominus, with riper fruits that are slightly candied. Blackberry, leather, earth, deep cherry, horse saddle on the nose. The palate is darker fruits, blackberry pie, blackberry liqueur, some blue fruit underpinning, dense and sultry, with a sweet essence, raspberry chocolate, nice pepper and spice on the back end and very long. Loved this in it's riper style. I got some onion skin after a couple hours as it seemed to change a bit.
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5 Guys and a Gal! (Casa Joe & Khem): Live and learn! I admittedly didn't even know that Phelps had a wine designated from this vineyard! This was quite a treat, and my WOTN!
This was a great pairing with the 84 Dominus. Like the Dominus, this showed plenty of tertiary character and flavors. Unlike the Dominus, it showed only dark fruit (no red fruit), and more importantly (at least to my palate), it showed more fruit!
The flavor profile was a fair amount dark fruit wrapped in a heavy cloak of leather, earth, sweet oak, tobacco and notes of coffee and dried herbs.
94+ points easily and so delicious! Drink or hold, but if your palate is like mine, this is peaking right now!
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Update: after a couple of hours, the tannins really softened up.
Overall thoughts: Really beautiful nose, which was the strongest aspect of this wine. On the palate the wine has a surprising (for me) amount of tannins, and that acidity was just a bit towards the tart side, and the wines seemed maybe just a bit tired (other than the tannins). At first, I gave it an 89. After a couple of hours, it opened up and softened up nicely and it was great. At least a 91.
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Blind Flights with Boston Dinner Club: Outstanding nose of ripe blackberry, licorice, espresso bean, eucalyptus and tomato leaf. Nice expression of the loamy site and ripe pure fruit characteristics that you get here.
Palate is quite vivid still at this age with plum, blackberry, cassis and more mint/herb notes. Graphite, leather and a trace of juniper emerge the longer this is open. Exotic in some ways.
Finish is the hold back on this particular Eisele. I was looking for more length and grace, but the dark fruit impact was still quite nice with graphite and cedar notes. Trailed off somewhat quickly.
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Drank vs. a 1986 Ch. Ausone on NYE. Crowd was split 60/40 with the nod going to the bordeaux. Excellent nose, color, structure. The Phelps had a little more fruit. Superb wine.
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On the nose, very Bordeaux sensation with modest smoke, lightly rubbed leather, tar, blackberry, and dark cherry, on the palate, black currant, cherry, modest spices, the tannin was very round and smooth, but compare to the previous bottle we had in December last year, it did not show as much structure and weight. Still a good wine though.
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Pnp. Leather, sweet black cassis and cherry on the nose. Palate had sweet red and black fruit. Round and silky with that california dose of sunshine. But it was not as fresh and vibrant as the previous bottle.
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Pnp. Classic old napa with bordeaux character with the napa sweetness. Nose and palate share similar earth, tobacco, cigar box, sous, iron, blood and sweet black fruit flavour Palate is silky and expressive with the napa sweetness. Drinking at peak now. Lovely aged napa. 92-93
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From Magum and this wine is singing. Lovely aromas of dried red fruits, Asian five spice, and dusty earth. Palate is still vibrant and full of life featuring dark dried fruits, black spices, and wonderful layered qualities. Finish goes on and on. Quite impressive!
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Not much life left in this old girl. After initial decant, flat with charcoal finish. After a bit of air, a little fruit and acid showed up and that's how it remained. We did drink it but I'm sure it had seen much better days. Depressed, saturated cork and high shoulder fill.
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WOW! Never in my life would I have expected to drink this...A restaurant near Destin, Florida...Cuvee 30A. Tobacco, leather, red fruits, this was a Tennesse Walker in Perfection!
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Ethereal aromas of spices and cherry, following on the palate with deep, long flavors and engaging complexity. This is an elegant glass of wine, one of the best and most classic California Cabernets I've ever tasted. Just slightly less effusive than a bottle 10 years ago. From a magnum, my last.
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The perfect, classic California Cabernet to insert as a ringer due to its earthy, cassis and cherry tobacco character. Refined in texture, with sweet, fresh fruits, this tastes at least a decade younger than its true age. I wish I had a few more bottles. It was fun while it lasted.
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San Francisco; 4/15/2014-4/18/2014 (San Francisco Area): From a time before Araujo too over the vineyard. Need decanting both for sediment, brutal soot clear some funky smell on the nose.earthy, mushroomy notes on the nose mix with a good dose of dark fruits, light leather. Good density of fruit on the palate, from start to end, very vibrant wine and although secondary has the structure to go another 20 years. A touch of sweet core fruit on the mid plate reminds you this is napa and not pauillac. Very elegant and pure. Mr Phelps must be kicking himself for letting this vineyard go away.. 94
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Good looking bottle, fill into neck, spinning capsule, cork stained only 1/5 of the way up... Sports a lovely yet restrained bouquet with quintessential cabernet aromas of tobacco, green peppers, compost, loam, and maybe an ever-so-slightly oxidative note. With air, some notes of blueberry, cinnamon and caramel emerge too, reminding that this is a Napa. The palate is fully resolved, a tad lean but with good backend length, tangy and Bordeaux in texture and style. Still pleasurable, but this bottle seems to be starting to thin out, with some tart-shrill midpalate notes. Somewhat a shadow (or maybe an echo) of the flamboyant and epic 1987 Phelps Eisele. Last glass was the best. Still very good, but below expectations.
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Dark garnet, with much bricking. Aromas are complex, giving mints, cherry, leather, pencil box and the pungency of a wet basement. On entry, medium tannin and medium acidity. It's more energetic than anticipated for such an old, hot vintage wine from Calistoga. Develops on the palate quickly, with a bit of a bother from an overlay of mushroom-y and wet paper flavor that suppresses - and contends with - the appeal from very ripe fruit (plum, prune, cherry) and mint. Medium finish. Bottle #3 of three.
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The Semicentennial Birthday "Season"; 9/16/2012-9/18/2012 (San Francisco and the Napa Valley): The saying that (with respect to "elderly" bottles) there are no good wines, just good bottles, is one that holds true throughout my experience. This 26-year-old bottle, provided by a close friend and oenophile, is somewhere in between on the spectrum of good and bad. Just opening this bottle provided a challenge, as the cork was very crumbly. After decanting, this bottle showed a deep garnet/amber specimen, with tired (but not dead) aromas of wood, cigar box and earth, with a whiff of black fruit to vault the wine above "flawed" status. The palate shows the same tired flavors which linger to a long, albeit earth/wood finish. I would definitely not dump this wine out of my glass, but I suspect that there are better bottles of this vintage. Drink up!
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No detailed notes, but this bottle was fresher out of the gate than the one I had earlier this year. Well balanced with a bunch of secondary character. Too much so for G., who thought this was on the old side. I felt this was drinking as well as any '86 from Napa I've had in a long time.
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Pop/pour. Quite fresh on the nose, with secondary character. Dark fruit, wood, sweat, and an uplifting note of mint. The palate however doesn't quite hold up, and seems a bit tired / out of balance. Tannins are largely resolved, but acidity somewhat dominates remaining fruit. Still very pleasant, but not among the best of class for 1986 / current consumption. Will revisit with dinner. Perhaps a bit of air will help flush out a bit more fruit. 90 points. Update - 3 hours of air (in the bottle, no decant) this really opens up. Fruit gains some weight and starts to show its worth against the earlier acidity. Much better balanced at this point. For current consumption, I would probably decant for 30-60 minutes. 93 points with some air.
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Medium red color, some bricking.Terrific nose of complex mints, chocolate, cherry, tar, cedar, green olive. Low tannin, balanced acidity. Smooth and supple in the mouth with fully resolved tannin, this wine is rare for a hot vintage ( '86) California cabernet in having such "completeness". Excellent. Fantastic.
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Opened this double magnum of my oldest son's birth year wine that's been in my cellar for 22 years waiting for a special occasion -- Peter's completion of graduate school and commissioning into the Army. From start to finish the wine was spectacular. The essence of an older, high-quality Napa Carbernet. The wine had thrown a surprisingly small amount of sediment, thus making the decanting process easier. At first taste, before decanting to ensure that the wine's structure would handle it, the wine had a wonderful nose and youthful enough taste that I will let my double magnum of 1986 Insignia lay for another 10 years. Upon decanting, the wine opened beautifully and had a long finish. On the nose, it had that great smell of an older, well-aged wine -- leather and library books -- yet the cabernet aromas were impeccable. The color was between the red of a fresh wine and the brown of an old, over the hill bottle; a lovely red brick color. Everyone thought the wine was stunning and my wife, an experienced taster, thought it was one of the best wines that she'd ever tasted. While there are some mixed reviews here for this vintage, the double magnum size certainly protected this wine and made it quite memorable. Would that I had more!
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UCD wine group (Boulder, CO): Slightly corked. Decanted 90 minutes. Still with cherries, blackberries, leather and toasted oak in front of the TCA. Clipped fruit with little palate presence. A shame this was corked as it could have been great.
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The fruit has begun to lessen but the depth, complexity and strength of this wine was still very impressive. The tannins were mellow, which gave the wine a velvety smooth feel with a medium finish.
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Still very much alive - plenty of dark fruit with smoke, earth, cedar and mint. Had a cool, minty character on the palate. Tannins fully resolved. At peak but should hold on a while longer.
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This was three wines in 45 minutes. Had the somellier decant this right when dinner arrived. There was almost no sediment and probably could have not been decanted. right out of the gate this wine seemed much younger than 21 years. Good dark color with a slight bricking around the rim. Huge sweet fruit with tannins in check. After 15 minutes the sweetness faded and the menthol and tobacco came out. really dried out over the next 15 minutes. Then it started to come back around with more of a rounded feel on the palate. Really enjoyed. Would pick up another bottle if I could find it.
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Consumed 12/9/06, empty within an hour of opening (shared w/3 friends) - very fresh, in terms of body and structure, if not attack or flavors, which were mature. Mature attack being the rolling thunder into an elegant cedar, plum (not stewed - a bit of a surprise to be so fresh) flavor, sweet red cherries, a hint of currants too. Wish I drank this every night. I much prefer this style to the modern fruit bomb Hourglass/Foley type wine. Can last. From previous reader's note did not decant. Would not be surprised if freshness left with time.
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Dinner and Fine, Aged Wine at Le Francais (Wheeling, IL): Ruby red color. Nose is full of tar, currants and herbs. The palate is big bodied and quite youthful. This did receive a significant decant and probably suffered. Tar, minerals and black fruits. Very nice but strutting all of its stuff.
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At S&F survey of '86 Cabs. Medium-ruby color. Very unique style. Minty, spices, cinnamon. Decent. Nice palate. Good fruit. Lightish. But tannic finish. Fine bottle. 4-10-15-7: 86/100.
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With Michael Lehmann at Singer & Foy survey of new "killer Cabs." Nice ruby color. Brilliant. Nose smells of cinnamon and exotic spices, maybe clove. I don't ever remember smelling exotic spices to this degree before. Amazing complexity, though not especially varietal. Good fruit in the mouth, with a lengthy mid-palate. Not a lot of power, but enough, and extremely complex. This is a very unusual wine. Can't wait to find out what it is. 5-12-17-8: 92/100.
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1/25/2024 - galewskj wrote: 96 Points
Semi-guys night (My house): This was a killer old school Napa cabMethod: pop and pour; cellar temp; Cab glass; bottle in great condition. Forest floor, tobacco, leather, plum, red fruits, mushroom. The nose is expressive while the palate is elegant and boisterious.
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1/25/2024 - rocknroller wrote: 94 Points
Guy's Night: Aged Bordeaux/Bordeaux Blends (Joe & Khem's Place, Mpls): Dark red color. PNP, drank a glass over 3 hour next to the '84 Dominus. I had never had Eisele from Phelps, so it was really great to try this. This has a more classic Napa profile than the Dominus, with riper fruits that are slightly candied. Blackberry, leather, earth, deep cherry, horse saddle on the nose. The palate is darker fruits, blackberry pie, blackberry liqueur, some blue fruit underpinning, dense and sultry, with a sweet essence, raspberry chocolate, nice pepper and spice on the back end and very long. Loved this in it's riper style. I got some onion skin after a couple hours as it seemed to change a bit.
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1/25/2024 - MN Wine Junkie Likes this wine: 94 Points
5 Guys and a Gal! (Casa Joe & Khem): Live and learn! I admittedly didn't even know that Phelps had a wine designated from this vineyard! This was quite a treat, and my WOTN!
This was a great pairing with the 84 Dominus. Like the Dominus, this showed plenty of tertiary character and flavors. Unlike the Dominus, it showed only dark fruit (no red fruit), and more importantly (at least to my palate), it showed more fruit!
The flavor profile was a fair amount dark fruit wrapped in a heavy cloak of leather, earth, sweet oak, tobacco and notes of coffee and dried herbs.
94+ points easily and so delicious! Drink or hold, but if your palate is like mine, this is peaking right now!
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10/22/2023 - JRockEsq Likes this wine: 91 Points
Method: pop and pour; cellar temp; Cab glass; bottle in great condition
Nose: forest floor, wet tobacco, leather, plum, potting soil; really beautiful nose
Palate: plum, forest floor; dry; medium- body; high- tannin; medium tartish acidity
Update: after a couple of hours, the tannins really softened up.
Overall thoughts: Really beautiful nose, which was the strongest aspect of this wine. On the palate the wine has a surprising (for me) amount of tannins, and that acidity was just a bit towards the tart side, and the wines seemed maybe just a bit tired (other than the tannins). At first, I gave it an 89. After a couple of hours, it opened up and softened up nicely and it was great. At least a 91.
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2/11/2023 - RockinCabs wrote: 94 Points
Blind Flights with Boston Dinner Club: Outstanding nose of ripe blackberry, licorice, espresso bean, eucalyptus and tomato leaf. Nice expression of the loamy site and ripe pure fruit characteristics that you get here.
Palate is quite vivid still at this age with plum, blackberry, cassis and more mint/herb notes. Graphite, leather and a trace of juniper emerge the longer this is open. Exotic in some ways.
Finish is the hold back on this particular Eisele. I was looking for more length and grace, but the dark fruit impact was still quite nice with graphite and cedar notes. Trailed off somewhat quickly.
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5/22/2021 - GraffCellar Likes this wine: 94 Points
Wow!
After initially being closed and reticent, it came together into a beautifully balanced wine. WOTN!!!
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12/7/2020 - docdavid Does not like this wine: 80 Points
Corked
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12/31/2018 - Red Loki Likes this wine: 94 Points
Drank vs. a 1986 Ch. Ausone on NYE. Crowd was split 60/40 with the nod going to the bordeaux. Excellent nose, color, structure. The Phelps had a little more fruit. Superb wine.
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9/15/2018 - Ms. Bubblehead Likes this wine:
On the nose, very Bordeaux sensation with modest smoke, lightly rubbed leather, tar, blackberry, and dark cherry, on the palate, black currant, cherry, modest spices, the tannin was very round and smooth, but compare to the previous bottle we had in December last year, it did not show as much structure and weight. Still a good wine though.
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9/14/2018 - Burgnick Likes this wine: 92 Points
Pnp. Leather, sweet black cassis and cherry on the nose. Palate had sweet red and black fruit. Round and silky with that california dose of sunshine. But it was not as fresh and vibrant as the previous bottle.
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12/10/2017 - Burgnick Likes this wine: 93 Points
Pnp. Classic old napa with bordeaux character with the napa sweetness. Nose and palate share similar earth, tobacco, cigar box, sous, iron, blood and sweet black fruit flavour Palate is silky and expressive with the napa sweetness. Drinking at peak now. Lovely aged napa. 92-93
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10/21/2017 - KenK Likes this wine: 95 Points
From Magum and this wine is singing. Lovely aromas of dried red fruits, Asian five spice, and dusty earth. Palate is still vibrant and full of life featuring dark dried fruits, black spices, and wonderful layered qualities. Finish goes on and on. Quite impressive!
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8/4/2017 - Quiet Lion wrote:
Not much life left in this old girl. After initial decant, flat with charcoal finish. After a bit of air, a little fruit and acid showed up and that's how it remained. We did drink it but I'm sure it had seen much better days. Depressed, saturated cork and high shoulder fill.
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6/21/2017 - tsue Likes this wine: 100 Points
WOW! Never in my life would I have expected to drink this...A restaurant near Destin, Florida...Cuvee 30A.
Tobacco, leather, red fruits, this was a Tennesse Walker in Perfection!
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11/22/2016 - Lipsman wrote: 98 Points
Ethereal aromas of spices and cherry, following on the palate with deep, long flavors and engaging complexity. This is an elegant glass of wine, one of the best and most classic California Cabernets I've ever tasted. Just slightly less effusive than a bottle 10 years ago. From a magnum, my last.
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7/28/2016 - Jeff Leve wrote: 93 Points
The perfect, classic California Cabernet to insert as a ringer due to its earthy, cassis and cherry tobacco character. Refined in texture, with sweet, fresh fruits, this tastes at least a decade younger than its true age. I wish I had a few more bottles. It was fun while it lasted.
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6/1/2014 - boxedwine wrote: 92 Points
still drinking very well.
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4/15/2014 - Papies wrote: 94 Points
San Francisco; 4/15/2014-4/18/2014 (San Francisco Area): From a time before Araujo too over the vineyard. Need decanting both for sediment, brutal soot clear some funky smell on the nose.earthy, mushroomy notes on the nose mix with a good dose of dark fruits, light leather. Good density of fruit on the palate, from start to end, very vibrant wine and although secondary has the structure to go another 20 years. A touch of sweet core fruit on the mid plate reminds you this is napa and not pauillac. Very elegant and pure. Mr Phelps must be kicking himself for letting this vineyard go away.. 94
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3/17/2014 - blanquito wrote: 91 Points
Good looking bottle, fill into neck, spinning capsule, cork stained only 1/5 of the way up... Sports a lovely yet restrained bouquet with quintessential cabernet aromas of tobacco, green peppers, compost, loam, and maybe an ever-so-slightly oxidative note. With air, some notes of blueberry, cinnamon and caramel emerge too, reminding that this is a Napa. The palate is fully resolved, a tad lean but with good backend length, tangy and Bordeaux in texture and style. Still pleasurable, but this bottle seems to be starting to thin out, with some tart-shrill midpalate notes. Somewhat a shadow (or maybe an echo) of the flamboyant and epic 1987 Phelps Eisele. Last glass was the best. Still very good, but below expectations.
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8/6/2013 - Hodby wrote: 87 Points
Dark garnet, with much bricking. Aromas are complex, giving mints, cherry, leather, pencil box and the pungency of a wet basement. On entry, medium tannin and medium acidity. It's more energetic than anticipated for such an old, hot vintage wine from Calistoga. Develops on the palate quickly, with a bit of a bother from an overlay of mushroom-y and wet paper flavor that suppresses - and contends with - the appeal from very ripe fruit (plum, prune, cherry) and mint. Medium finish. Bottle #3 of three.
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9/17/2012 - La Cave d'Argent wrote: 80 Points
The Semicentennial Birthday "Season"; 9/16/2012-9/18/2012 (San Francisco and the Napa Valley): The saying that (with respect to "elderly" bottles) there are no good wines, just good bottles, is one that holds true throughout my experience. This 26-year-old bottle, provided by a close friend and oenophile, is somewhere in between on the spectrum of good and bad. Just opening this bottle provided a challenge, as the cork was very crumbly. After decanting, this bottle showed a deep garnet/amber specimen, with tired (but not dead) aromas of wood, cigar box and earth, with a whiff of black fruit to vault the wine above "flawed" status. The palate shows the same tired flavors which linger to a long, albeit earth/wood finish. I would definitely not dump this wine out of my glass, but I suspect that there are better bottles of this vintage. Drink up!
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8/16/2012 - vanpe003 wrote:
No detailed notes, but this bottle was fresher out of the gate than the one I had earlier this year. Well balanced with a bunch of secondary character. Too much so for G., who thought this was on the old side. I felt this was drinking as well as any '86 from Napa I've had in a long time.
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5/25/2012 - lesz wrote: 92 Points
Had with 84 camymus ss, no comparison, still very much alive, great nose tannins held up well for a couple of hours.may improve with time
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4/4/2012 - vanpe003 wrote: 93 Points
Pop/pour. Quite fresh on the nose, with secondary character. Dark fruit, wood, sweat, and an uplifting note of mint. The palate however doesn't quite hold up, and seems a bit tired / out of balance. Tannins are largely resolved, but acidity somewhat dominates remaining fruit. Still very pleasant, but not among the best of class for 1986 / current consumption. Will revisit with dinner. Perhaps a bit of air will help flush out a bit more fruit. 90 points. Update - 3 hours of air (in the bottle, no decant) this really opens up. Fruit gains some weight and starts to show its worth against the earlier acidity. Much better balanced at this point. For current consumption, I would probably decant for 30-60 minutes. 93 points with some air.
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9/29/2011 - Hodby wrote: 94 Points
Medium red color, some bricking.Terrific nose of complex mints, chocolate, cherry, tar, cedar, green olive. Low tannin, balanced acidity. Smooth and supple in the mouth with fully resolved tannin, this wine is rare for a hot vintage ( '86) California cabernet in having such "completeness". Excellent. Fantastic.
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4/30/2011 - psmith wrote:
Rustic and earthy - some brett notes. Medium bodied and aged. Furnace. Not as structures as many '86s, with a refined palate. Enjoyable.
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12/25/2010 - randob wrote: 98 Points
Opened this double magnum of my oldest son's birth year wine that's been in my cellar for 22 years waiting for a special occasion -- Peter's completion of graduate school and commissioning into the Army. From start to finish the wine was spectacular. The essence of an older, high-quality Napa Carbernet. The wine had thrown a surprisingly small amount of sediment, thus making the decanting process easier. At first taste, before decanting to ensure that the wine's structure would handle it, the wine had a wonderful nose and youthful enough taste that I will let my double magnum of 1986 Insignia lay for another 10 years. Upon decanting, the wine opened beautifully and had a long finish. On the nose, it had that great smell of an older, well-aged wine -- leather and library books -- yet the cabernet aromas were impeccable. The color was between the red of a fresh wine and the brown of an old, over the hill bottle; a lovely red brick color. Everyone thought the wine was stunning and my wife, an experienced taster, thought it was one of the best wines that she'd ever tasted. While there are some mixed reviews here for this vintage, the double magnum size certainly protected this wine and made it quite memorable. Would that I had more!
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12/9/2008 - thomaskeil wrote: flawed
UCD wine group (Boulder, CO): Slightly corked. Decanted 90 minutes. Still with cherries, blackberries, leather and toasted oak in front of the TCA. Clipped fruit with little palate presence. A shame this was corked as it could have been great.
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7/21/2008 - vine20 wrote: 90 Points
The fruit has begun to lessen but the depth, complexity and strength of this wine was still very impressive. The tannins were mellow, which gave the wine a velvety smooth feel with a medium finish.
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5/14/2008 - rsepulve wrote: flawed
Rats - slightly corked but more than enough to ruin it.
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2/6/2008 - dccc wrote: 80 Points
This one is definetely past its prime. The structures was totally gone. Could not finish the bottle even after a couple of hours.
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12/12/2007 - rsepulve wrote: 94 Points
Still very much alive - plenty of dark fruit with smoke, earth, cedar and mint. Had a cool, minty character on the palate. Tannins fully resolved. At peak but should hold on a while longer.
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5/26/2007 - MagnumGourmet wrote:
This was three wines in 45 minutes. Had the somellier decant this right when dinner arrived. There was almost no sediment and probably could have not been decanted. right out of the gate this wine seemed much younger than 21 years. Good dark color with a slight bricking around the rim. Huge sweet fruit with tannins in check. After 15 minutes the sweetness faded and the menthol and tobacco came out. really dried out over the next 15 minutes. Then it started to come back around with more of a rounded feel on the palate. Really enjoyed. Would pick up another bottle if I could find it.
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12/12/2006 - kkazaks wrote: 94 Points
Consumed 12/9/06, empty within an hour of opening (shared w/3 friends) - very fresh, in terms of body and structure, if not attack or flavors, which were mature. Mature attack being the rolling thunder into an elegant cedar, plum (not stewed - a bit of a surprise to be so fresh) flavor, sweet red cherries, a hint of currants too. Wish I drank this every night. I much prefer this style to the modern fruit bomb Hourglass/Foley type wine. Can last. From previous reader's note did not decant. Would not be surprised if freshness left with time.
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8/22/2006 - Nanda wrote: 91 Points
Dinner and Fine, Aged Wine at Le Francais (Wheeling, IL): Ruby red color. Nose is full of tar, currants and herbs. The palate is big bodied and quite youthful. This did receive a significant decant and probably suffered. Tar, minerals and black fruits. Very nice but strutting all of its stuff.
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5/4/1991 - MicklethePickle Likes this wine: 86 Points
At S&F survey of '86 Cabs. Medium-ruby color. Very unique style. Minty, spices, cinnamon. Decent. Nice palate. Good fruit. Lightish. But tannic finish. Fine bottle. 4-10-15-7: 86/100.
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6/22/1990 - MicklethePickle Likes this wine: 92 Points
With Michael Lehmann at Singer & Foy survey of new "killer Cabs." Nice ruby color. Brilliant. Nose smells of cinnamon and exotic spices, maybe clove. I don't ever remember smelling exotic spices to this degree before. Amazing complexity, though not especially varietal. Good fruit in the mouth, with a lengthy mid-palate. Not a lot of power, but enough, and extremely complex. This is a very unusual wine. Can't wait to find out what it is. 5-12-17-8: 92/100.
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