Estate Grown Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

I tend to dismiss the Phelps Cab in favor of the Insignia or Backus but this is still a tremendous wine and Phelps in general has maintained amazing quality as it’s grown. Most of my fond memories of Napa during the mid 2000s involved weekends that started at Phelps for Insignia Release Weekends. They would walk around with decanters or mags of old Insignia, Cab or Backus all day. It was nirvana.

Yes 95 points...... properly decanted.

Not showing as well at this stage as I'm accustom to seeing from Phelps. There is normally better fruit & tannin structure. It's definitely showing the relatively cool summer weather Napa had in 2010. I'd say a dumb faze but the 10 is not showing the same quality, concentration, complexity & beauty as many of the vintages I've enjoyed from them over the many years. Still an enjoyable wine. Lots of lean; blackberries, dark, slightly liqueured cherries, blueberries, poached strawberries, mocha powder, baking spices, loamy soils, crushed dry rocks, spice-box, dusty tannins with decent acidity & finish. However, the 10 Napa is showing to be an off vintage for Joseph Phelps at this point. It's still early and there is certainly time for this wine to evolve but I am not seeing the raw elements for that in this bottle and or vintage. This is a drink in the first 10 years or so.

Second of the three year vertical (2004, 2010 and 2012). Dark ruby red. Layered nose with dark berries, cinnamon, cloves and light cassis. With some air came on some slightly savory notes and a little mesquite smoke. Moderate plus tannins (7.5/10) with a medium plus to a full body. Took some time to open up then had some cassis, blackberries, blueberries and some dark cocoa. Semi dry and medium plus finish. Was expecting a bit more from this. Drink till 2019.

Yummy

Our last great bottle of wine as we will be drinking low cost Cabo Costco wine for a month.

A month after the last bottle and still this is tasting great.

Tasted great the other night. Always impressed with the Phelps CS.

Still very tight after 10 years in the bottle! But this wine will reward you if you let it unwind. Leather, mint, and blackberries on the nose. Soft red fruit on the front of the pallet, Then it’s tannins hit you mid palate. I wouldn’t call them smooth. Indeed they’re sort of raw, with lots of earth tones and minerality that carry through to a very looonnnngggg finish that releases some pleasantly soft middle timbre notes. Don’t be deceived by drinking this wine too quickly, because the artistry of this wine is in the very long finish that offsets the powerful mid-palate tannic structure. It’s probably worth putting this wine down for at least another 10 years if you’re a sissy. :-)

Pretty great cab, nice and smooth and relatively subtle fruit