Tasted yesterday 6/24 with a small group of wine geeks.
2000 Chateau Lynch Bages, Pauillac
Terrific wine from a superior and long-lived vintage. The 2000 Lynch Bages remains purple in color with an evolving nose of toasty black fruits and spices. On the palate it is firm with a solid backbone of tannin and acid and concentrated layers of fruit to balance the structure. The finish lasts for at least 30 seconds. If I owned this wine, I’d continue to cellar it for another 8-10 years because it has yet to fully express itself. My score 94+
1977 Joseph Phelps “Eisele Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley
1977 was the second of consecutive drought years with, as I recollect it, many more misses than hits. However, as we have come to learn, the Eisele Vineyard is an extraordinary terroir. The 1977 Eisele CS remains purple in color with an expressive nose of black fruits, floral notes, and cassis. Medium-bodied on the palate (the label states 13.5% alcohol) with superior depth, concentration, and complexity thanks to 40 years of aging, it exhibits a smooth texture and exceptional length. It lacks the power and majesty of the legendary 1971 Ridge Eisele, the 1974 Conn Creek Eisele, the 1975 and 1978 Phelps Eisele, and the 1976 Phelps Insignia (96% Eisele fruit). It’s on a par with the under-rated 1979 Phelps Eisele. Still, its an excpeptional achievement in a challenging vintage. One can only hope that the 2000 Lynch Bages turns out as well when it is age 40. My score 96 points
DoctorJay
Jay, I concur on both these wines. The Phelps Eisele’s are special wines! The 2k Lynch, while excellent, is overshadowed by the hype of the RMP initial rating and the overpricing that I and most paid on futures.
While I think RP based hype is negative in general I also believe 2000 LB is superb and only too young. Michel Bettane once told me – a great Medco needs 25 years in a good cellar – at a minimum. I think he is right.
Nice to see you posting Jay. I’ve never had the 1977 Phelps but had a chance to try the 1978 once, years ago. It was awesome around age 30.
Even the regular Phelps 1976 Cab was fabulous and aged very well - last time I had it was about 5 years ago and it was delicious.
A couple of weeks ago we had the full line up of 1977 Phelps. The Napa bottling was astounding and probably that day the best of the bunch. The Eisele was a close second and it had superb aromatics. Unfortunately the Insignia was corked and was substituted by a Monday 77 which was also really good. Cheers.
When was the last year the Phelps bottled the Eisele designate? I thought it was '91 (a fantastic wine BTW), but saw on CellarTracker that people have later vintages. Can that be right?
I think that there are a number of different cuvées of the 2000 Lynch out there. The best are stunning but others are rather lackluster. A friend who buys on a large scale for an Oxford college told me she bought a second tranche of the wine, having tasted a terrific bottle from her original purchase, only to find that the later order did not match the quality of the first. She returned multiple cases to the merchant on those grounds.
I had that 77 just past 30 years of age (it, not me) and I remember being thrilled by it.
this is depressing to hear. I’m going to root for it not to be really true.
1991 was the last year Joseph Phelps bottled an Eisele CS. Araujo, which purchased the vineyard, also made a 1991 Eisele. I’ve never had the opportunity to taste them side-by-side. Araujo sold the vineyard, so I’ve heard, sometime in the past few years.
DoctorJay
Thanks for the note on the LB. I haven’t opened one in a few years but the few bottles I tried since release have been very promising.
We just had a 2000 LB last night with 7 of us at our offline and it was one of the stars of the show. Sorry cant give great notes but it had great balance very pure fruit and a wonderful finish no hard edges fully resolved tannins. Still many years ahead of it but definitely at the start of its drinking window. For my palate I would agree with Jays 94+ rating. General consensus from the table is that it tied for wotn with the 2004 Maybach which was firing on all cylinders and my idea of what a classic cab should be. Nothing over the top or spoofilated like some other Napa cabs.
Jay is correct. '91 was the last vintage of Eisele @ JPV. Both the '76 Insignia (from Eisele grapes) and '77 Eisele were produced from two drought influenced growing seasons, less than 14" rainfall. My sense, albeit subjective, was that the vines acclimated to the dry conditions in '77 yielding a bit more texture and fine-grained tannins.