| 1985 Joseph Phelps Insignia Napa Valley, California WB Rating: 89 Alcohol by volume: 13.5% Price at time of purchase: $0.00 (Library Selection - gift) Type: Cabernet / Bordeaux Principal varietal(s): 60% Cabernet, 25% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc I have no doubt this wine was superlative in its younger years, and this review only reflects what I tasted when the wine was 26 years old and edging past its prime. Still a delicious and full-bodied Cabernet, showing spicy cranberry and dark currant fruit with a lot of age-inflected cedar, but soft as silk and almost sweet-feeling in the mouth, without the regal stucture and mouth feel that was undoubtedly there a few years ago. Moving gracefully into its old age, this remains a beautiful Cabernet, but one I would drink up rather than hold any longer. (My extreme gratitude to good friend J. Colbert for sharing this classic from his cellar.) - HK 2011-05-18 [Back] |
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