1978 Joseph Phelps Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

Community Tasting Notes (8) Avg Score: 93.3 points

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  7/15/2023 - nywine68 wrote: 94 Points

  Always remarkable how young and fresh these 1978 Cali Cabs remain today. The dark blackberry fruit is still in the foreground with notes of secondary development. Figs and some olives on the finish. The acidity is still very much alive and injects the wine with great vibrancy. tannins are very silky and, while in the background, continue to hold the wine together very well.

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  2/5/2023 - Cailles wrote: 94 Points

  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: Medium intense nose, not giving off all it has in store. On the palate an explosion of flavors with malty, honey notes, dark fruits, round and fine. Complex, precise, from start to the long finish. Melted tannins, good freshness, good tension, slightly velvety texture. The nose had not much definition but the palate had it: The first sip was even spectacular, layered, intense. Later the wine lost its magic a bit. At first 95 pts, later 92 pts.

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  1/28/2023 - G_H wrote: 93 Points

  1978 California Cabernet Horizontal: Green tea, soy sauce, malt, started out quite tired but with air this became more and more elegant and delicious. This is one example that shows that in great years in the '70s and '80s the "regular" Napa Cabs perform on a very similar level to all the "reserves" "limited casks" and higher end blends.

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  1/28/2023 - sirpat00 wrote: 97 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:
  Aging notes fanned out into earth, leather and sous-bois with a dark, partially dried berry fruit core. Adding layer after layer of sweet spice, seasoning, eucalyptus, black chocolate, caramel and black tea. The palate was juicy, added tobacco and more leather, convincing tension and a nice length to it. Absolutely fantastic how this has aged, easily putting the Insignia with its volatile acidity next to it to shame.

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  2/24/2018 - cliffo41 wrote: 92 Points

  Mostly saturated cork but still perfectly enjoyable. Tobacco and leather notes.

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