1978 Joseph Phelps Insignia

Community Tasting Notes (14) Avg Score: 91.2 points

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  2/5/2023 - Cailles wrote: flawed

  30x California 1978: So many wines from this great Californian vintage at the age of 45 certainly qualifies as a “once in a lifetime” event. A few observations: 1) The quality was very high (almost all my ratings above 90pts). And only four faulty wines (2x corked, 2x over the hill/flawed, sadly those two were the Ridge Monte Bello and the Phelps Insignia). 2) The wines are ready to drink, the tannins have melted but the tension and freshness remain high - across the board. 3) There is still lots of fruit left and I was surprised how most wines didn’t show lots of tertiary aromas (find me the Bdx 1982 without tertiary aromas!). IMO, more than a handful of the wines could continue to improve for a few years. 4) Style wise, these are obviously quite different from today’s Napa wines with much less ripeness and more mineral accents. But hardly any wine we had would be mistaken for a Bordeaux in a blind tasting (unlike 80s/90s Dominus). 5) Best reds: Inglenook Limited Cask, Beaulieu GDL Reserve, Stags Leap Cask 23 4.5l (all 96pts), Heitz Bella Oaks, Simi Reserve, Stag’s Leap Cask 23 0.75l (all 95pts). The best wine overall, however, was the magical Late Harvest Riesling from Phelps (98pts).
  
  TN: Sadly, sadly, nail polish through and through.

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  1/28/2023 - G_H wrote: flawed

  1978 California Cabernet Horizontal: Bummer, was looking forward, but clearly an issue with the bottle. Behind that you could feel the strenght. Looking forward to drink my last remaining bottle

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  1/28/2023 - sirpat00 Does not like this wine: 80 Points

  California 1978 (Zunfthaus zur Waag, Zurich): Grand tasting of 1978 California wines, mostly from Napa. Main takeaways: i/ surprisingly high quality on average for wines that were not intended for such long-term aging with plenty of primary fruit left, ii/ but within the detail nonetheless a broad range with the worst few suffering from clear signs of fatigue while the best showed hardly age, iii/ top wines were Phelps Cab Sauv (97), Firestone Cab Sauv (95), and Beaulieu George de Latour Private Reserve (95). Full list sorted by score included in the tasting story.
  
  Tasting note:
  Dominant notes of nail polish left an overly alcoholic impression. The fruit was mostly red cherry, but not much else there. Maybe a result of volatile acidity as ventured by a MW co-hosting the tasting? Searing acidity made this barely drinkable. That said, this did improve somewhat with aeration, opening up a bit more space for fruit and herbal aromas, but the vinegar-type of flavor profile remained omnipresent.

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  8/28/2020 - nywine68 wrote: 98 Points

  A spectacular bottle. The fruit is still very vibrant and fresh. Plenty of acidity left and beatiful silky tannins. Big round mouthfeel. Dark berry fruit with lots of earthy nuances. Perfectly balanced and impossible to put down.

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  10/23/2018 - aquacongas wrote: flawed

  Cellar Devils with Jeff Leve; 10/23/2018-10/24/2018 (Berens am Kai 1 star Restaurant): Unfortunately oxidized

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View all 14 Community Tasting Notes

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