Two Middle-Aged Phelps Cabernets

WINE TALK
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Had a very interesting pair of Joseph Phelps cabernets last night at Dale Williams’ home- the 1987 Eisele and the 1985 Backus. The wines were served double blind and the results were a bit surprising to the group when the wines were unveiled. The 1985 Backus was stellar- fresh, pure, vibrant and very complex, with notes of sweet cassis, black raspberry, tobacco, soil and gentle topnotes of hickory smoke and mint. It was full, deep, and foucused on the palate, with sound acids, melting tannins and very impressive length and grip. A terrific bottle of cabernet just entering its peak period of drinkability.

The 1987 Eisele was clearly not in the same league- riper, a bit more marked by its oak component (in a less than flattering manner) and decidedly less focused and muddied on the palate. The aromatics ran to roasted cassis, bell pepper, tar, smoky oak, damp earth and a touch of eucalyptus. On the palate the wine was a tad bigger than the '85 Backus, with a good core of fruit, but rather indistinct focus and a notable touch of bitterness on the backend from the oak (which was perfectly integrated into the fruit of the wine, but which nonetheless left an unclean aftertaste). It was a rather dramatic contrast to the precise and complex Backus.

The showing of the '87 Eisele was a bit surprising to me, as the wine had been one of the flat out stars of a very large horizontal of '87 cabernets held in NY back in 2002 that I had been invited to. The vast majority of the wines we had were disappointing, given their apparent promise in their collective youth, as at age fifteen, a great many were already beginning to slide into very serious decline. I remember sitting across the table from Steve Tanzer at the tasting, feeling from our conversation that we were in complete accord about the general quality and stage of development of the wines. I learned a bit about wine diplomacy when I read his article on the tasting a few months later, but he was still not overly enthusiastic about most of the wines. But as I said, at the tasting in 2002, the Phelps wines had stood out for their absolute excellence across the board, with the Eisele the best of the the three bottlings. I was very surpirsed to see the wine not traversing the last seven years with aplomb, but rather beginning to go in the same direction of accelerated decline that many of its vintage stablemates were already showing in 2002.

While some might suggest that the '87s, now being 22 years of age, should not be expected to still be delivering peak quality (having had a respectable “golden age” in their first decade of life), I have to disagree in terms of accepting a purported high quality cabernet vintage that cannot make it to a respectable age with its positive attributes intact. Given how brilliantly the '85 Backus was last night (and how it will easily cruise along another twenty to thirty years), it is hard to forgive the '87 Eisele for its impending collapse into mediocrity. Not to mention how well earlier vintages of Phelps cabernets continue to drink to this day, as a '75 Eisele that I drank in September easily one of the best wines I have drunk this year and still with decades of further, positive evolution ahead of it. It is not that the '87 Eisele is going to fade anytime soon, but the wine is clearly going to end up rather stillborn- particularly when viewed in the context of its very impressive promise in its youth. It is now headed into a perfectly acceptable, boring, cubicle of blurry and four-square drinking, with little purity, nuance or charm. From one of the great cabernet vineyards and one of the top wineries of the era in a high-quality vintage, this is a rather sad conundrum.

Best,

John

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Tru dat.

I surely would like the opportunity to try some of the older Phelps wines from single vineyards.

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John, how many times do we have to tell you, 140 characters or fewer?

Those impressions completely match mine. I was quite sure they were Bordeaux and I was pretty quick to ask if they were the same producer (well, OK, I asked “same chateau?” and was told “same producer”), so there was a clearly identifiable similarity. The Backus was just beautiful, with minty, cassis fruit, some Latour-like walnut notes coming out after an hour or so, and spot-on fruit/acidity/tannin balance. I’d call it early in its peak window of drinkability.

The Eisele was not a bad wine, just a disappointing one given the pedigree. The quality of the fruit was clearly high but the wood tannins were fairly obtrusive and bitter, and it lacked the focus of the Backus. It wasn’t a bad wine; I’d be very happy to drink it, although not at the price it would command. But it should have been great, and young, and instead it’s somewhat simple and drying out.

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Thanks for the notes. Has anyone had the 1985 Eisle lately?

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Hi Drew,

I last had the '85 Eisele in the summer of 2008 and it showed beautifully and still a couple of years away from its full zenith. But it shared the same purity, complexity and balance of the '85 Backus, wtih perhaps even a bit classier pedigree. I have not seen it since that summer, but would expect it to start peaking in the next year or two and last another twenty-plus years.

Best,

John

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I really wish the Backus had not gone into the stratosphere on prices. While not as old as the examples you tried, I have had several bottles from the 1990-1995 era over the last few years and each has just been stunning.

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Just to add a slightly different perspective: I had the '87 Eisele 20 months ago at a tasting that featured lots of other very good wines and it performed quite well, I thought. I did not sense an overt woodiness, nor did it seem unfocused. It was not the deepest Cabernet, but it seemed persistent in flavor enough that I would not have thought it so advanced 2 years later.

1987 Joseph Phelps Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard Napa Valley. The nose here is fairly plush, featuring aromas of clean horse barn, turned earth, bridle leather, exotic spices, soft herbs, and red and black currants. It has a pretty red-candied and red-berried profile on the palate, which is medium-bodied, but not lacking in intensity. It is dry, with a high acid tang that carries all the way through to the finish, where things really coat the enamel of one’s teeth, showing good persistence.

-Michael

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I posted very brief notes Friday:
TN: SOBER@ my place-Piedmont, Alsace, CA, Burgundy, Champagne - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
my general impressions matched John’s on the 2 Phelps cabs. But he writes better than I do! :slight_smile:

John asked me re provenance. I have only had these a year or two, so I can’t offer any guarantees. I first tasted the 85 Phelps at the second offline I ever attended, a 80 & 85 Cal Cab dinner put on by Greg dal Paiz about 8 or 10 years ago. Loved the Backus, bought a bottle soon after, drank and loved it too. Bought the 85 Backus as well as an 83 and 87 Eisele when a trusted retailer got them a year or two ago. I have no knowledge of wine before that, but as they appeared at same time, I assume same source. The Eisele was actually the better looking bottle- fill well into neck, spinning capsule, clean firm cork. While I preferred the Backus (it has shown very similarly each time I’ve had), I didn’t see anything in the Eisele that made me think it had seen heat.

By the way, I retasted the remainders of most of the wines from Th last night while stocking the vinegar crock. The Backus was actually still drinking pretty well, while the Eisele was showing pruney. The Nebbiolos even with age had done pretty well sitting for 2 days. The shocker was the 89 CFE VT, which tasted exactly the same on Saturday as when it was opened.