1978 Cabernet Blindtasting (w/a Merlot and Bordeaux)

Palo Alto, California
Tasted Thursday, May 22, 2008 by rjonwine@gmail.com with 428 views

Introduction

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Introductory notes by our group's organizer, Ross Bott:
Tonight is the third in our retrospective series on 1978 Cabernets.

Perhaps the most consistent theme so far is how the 1978s, which were
reviewed as wonderfully precocious when initially released, but with
doubts about their longevity, have shown remarkable cores of fruit
still going strong after three decades.

Tonight, we'll have an all Napa Valley Cabernet lineup headed by two
heavy hitters from Phelps, the Backus and Eisele Vineyard, the
Rutherford and Private Reserve from Beaulieu, a sleeper from Tulocay
which has shown extremely well in the past and may surprise, the
first Reserve Cabernet that Nils Venge made while he was at Villa Mt
Eden, and a ringer from Margaux. Here's the lineup:

1978 Phelps "Backus Vineyard", Napa Valley (13.6%)
1978 Phelps "Eisele Vineyard", Napa Valley (13.5%)
1978 Beaulieu "Rutherford", Napa Valley (12.5%)
1978 Beaulieu "Private Reserve", Napa Valley (13.5%)
1978 Sterling, Merlot, Napa Valley (13%)
1978 Tulocay, Napa Valley (13.3%)
1978 Villa Mt Eden "Reserve", Napa Valley (13%)
1978 Chateau Prieure Lichine, Margaux (12.5%)

Flight 1 - Pre-tasting mystery wine (1 Note)

Revealed as a very mature Burgundy, of the same year as our main course. A nice warm up.
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Flight 2 - 1978 Cabernets (8 Notes)

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The group was out in left field on a few of these, IMHO. The Phelps Eisele was, by far, the strongest of the flight, coming in first for me and third for the group. This is a wine that tastes a third of its age, that could go on for a decade or two yet. The group had the Villa Mt. Eden first, and I placed it third. I thought the Beaulieu Rutherford was also stunning, but the group placed it last (too mature tasting, I guess). Both the Prieure-Lichine and the Tulocay were pretty far gone. For a 30-year old California Merlot, the Sterling was impressive.
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  • 1978 Villa Mt. Eden Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 92 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Group's #1 (my #3) – 45 pts; 2 1st place votes, 5 2nd place votes, 4 thirds, 0 last place votes – Dark red violet color with a lot of sediment; full, youthful, ripe cassis and plum nose; youthful, deep, cassis and tart plum palate with sweet, solid tannins; medium-plus finish

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  • 1978 Joseph Phelps Cabernet Sauvignon Backus Vineyard 90 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley, Oakville

    Group's #2 (my #5) – 50 pts; 2 1st place votes, 7 2nd place votes, 1 third, 1 last place – Medium red violet color; high pitched, VA, leather and tart cassis nose; a little dried out, tart cassis, solid tannins; medium-plus finish 90+ pts.

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  • 1978 Joseph Phelps Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard 94 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Group's #3 (my #1) – 54 pts; 4, 1, 2, 0 – Dark red violet with pale meniscus; sweet ripe cassis and cherry nose; solid, youthful, cassis and plum palate with fine grained tannins and years to go yet; medium-plus finish

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  • 1978 Château Prieuré-Lichine 81 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

    Group's #4 (my #7) – 56 pts; 5, 0, 2, 0 – Medium dark brick red with pale meniscus; funky, mature, tobacco and dried currant nose; mature, stewed fruit, bell pepper and tart plum palate; short-medium finish

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  • 1978 Tulocay Cabernet Sauvignon 79 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Group's #5 (my #8) – 75 pts; 1, 0, 0, 1 – Medium red violet color with pale meniscus; smoky tart red fruit, leather and a touch of dill on the nose; dill, stewed plum and a touch of rubber on the palate, which is disintegrating; short-medium finish

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  • 1978 Beaulieu Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Georges de Latour Private Reserve 82 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Group's #6 (my #6) – 76 pts; 0, 1, 1, 0 – Medium dark brick red with pale meniscus; mature, dried cherry and tart red fruit nose; mature, tart, stewed plum and dried cassis, over the hill palate; medium finish

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  • 1978 Sterling Vineyards Merlot 91 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley

    Group's #7 (my #4) – 83 pts; 1, 0, 2, 2 – Dark cherry red color with pale meniscus; major VA, ethyl acetate nose; solid, mature cassis with grip and depth; medium-plus finish

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  • 1978 Beaulieu Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford 93 Points

    USA, California, Napa Valley, Rutherford

    Group's #8 (my #2) – 95 pts; 0, 1, 1, 10 – Medium brick red color with clear meniscus; narrow, slightly stewed, dried plum nose; mature, dried plum, tangy, smoky cassis palate; medium-plus finish

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Flight 3 - Dessert (1 Note)

A very tasty, perfectly mature Banyuls to finish things off. I only wish I could put my hands on a case or more of these.
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