1978 Niebaum-Coppola Rubicon

Community Tasting Notes (12) Avg Score: 89.8 points

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  6/23/2023 - wines4usall wrote:

  Past it's time, but just now starting to turn

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  2/5/2023 - Cailles wrote: 90 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: Not much on the nose. On the palate a bit charmless, lots of minerality but not enough fruit sweetness to create a good balance. But don’t get me wrong, this is still a good wine with very classic proportions, very mineral driven.

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  1/28/2023 - G_H wrote: 92 Points

  1978 California Cabernet Horizontal: Strinkingly young, starting out quite muted, but developing well with air and higher temperature. Still quite structured in a way that I would have guessed a slightly lesser and more tannic year.

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  1/28/2023 - sirpat00 wrote: 92 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:
  Concentrated and intense nose boasting ripe, sweet and juicy fruit, chocolate as well as herbal layers of eucalyptus and mint. The palate is fresh and young, but slightly off-balance and not quite refined enough.

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  10/12/2016 - dream wrote: 87 Points

  Kind of a pretty nose of old Cabernet with scents of eucalyptus, green beans and dry tree bark. Actually got better after 2 hours in a decanter but never really showed a whole lot. Very dusty dark fruits with notes of cassis and green stuff. Finishes tannic and acidic but with interesting dry wood flavors. There is something here but the wine is way too strict to really be enjoyed.

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View all 12 Community Tasting Notes

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