Community Tasting Notes 20

• GuanYu Likes this wine: 96 points

  August 6, 2022 - The bottle drank like a mature grand cru Left Bank Bordeaux, and with the flair of Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon. The bottle became better after 2 hours of breathing. It was the best bottle of the evening, against 7 other bottles including a bottle of 2004 Quilceda Creek cabernet sauvignon. A classic.

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• ffjxc wrote: 92 points

  December 24, 2021 - Blown away that this old lady still had so much fruit. Decanted it for 2 hours & it was a hit. Hints of cassis, cherry. Just a really nice bottle. In comparison I opened an '86 Insignia a few weeks back & that bottle was a bit better.

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• mflesh wrote: 92 points

  January 27, 2018 - Enjoyed last night and man oh wow. Outta left field, this one still has the color and depth to go another 10 years it seems, although I really think this was the perfect time to open this one from a classic Napa cab standpoint. Standing at just about 13.5%, this wine had a lot of green to it. Looking it up, apparently there were a lot of floods in Napa the year before this growing season, and the summer was a bit milder, yet Merlot was a little more impressive than cab. I think this translates to this wine, that had a rather earthy nose, green, weedy, fig, hint of plum. The entry of this wine was a little on the herbaceous side, with good fruit still very present in the front, but more of a fig and mellow licorice. Earthy middle, some herb, greener towards the finish, but it was really interesting how the finish of this one seemed to have more tannin than I would have expected. Overall, very complex Napa cab, and really awesome experience.

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• ffjxc Likes this wine: 94 points

  March 19, 2016 - Inky, very fruity with mellowing tannins. Amazing for a 30 year old Cabernet. We drank this side by side with a 1986 JPhelps Insignia and the Backus was the winner. A bolder wine than the Insignia with good fruit, mellow tannins in a refined style.

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• winesnout wrote: 93 points

  May 18, 2014 - A classic old style Napa Cab. Mature ruby color. Intense nose of red fruit (plum) and lots of secondary aromas: tea, mint, rosemary, bell pepper. Medium to full bodied, definitely elegant and well balanced. Delicious and graceful at age 28. Here's the sad part: The price tag on the back says $ 23.99 - purchased in 1990 at a NYC wine store. The "Backus" 2010 at the some store is $ 189.99 today. Hhhhhhhm....

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Wine Definition

• Vintage 1986
• Type Red
• Producer Joseph Phelps
• Varietal Cabernet Sauvignon
• Designation n/a
• Vineyard Backus Vineyard
• Country USA
• Region California
• SubRegion Napa Valley
• Appellation Oakville
• UPC Code 010465228604

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 2 (1%)
• In Cellars 187 (70%)
• Consumed 78 (29%)

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