| Score: |
96+ JG.
"I have not written a note on the legendary 1975 Eisele Vineyard bottling from Joseph Phelps since 2007, and I wish I could say that I get to drink this great wine with greater frequency, but I was not savvy enough to lay in a serious quantity of this wine in my own cellar back in the day and now have to rely on the generosity of those more savvy than I was back in the day. This is a legendary California cabernet and at age thirty-five, the wine is at its apogee of peak drinkability (but with decades of life still in reserve), as it soars from the glass in a brilliantly pure blend of cassis, black raspberries, tobacco smoke, a touch of saddle leather, chocolate, beautiful soil tones and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and marvelously complex, with a sappy (but not pumped up!) core of fruit, melting tannins, stunning focus and balance, and brilliant length and grip on the poised, plush and endless finish. This is a great, great bottle of cabernet that may yet even improve a touch with further bottle age. Like so many of the great 1975 California cabernets, time seems to be standing still for this great wine." John Gilman, View From the Cellar, Jan/Feb 2014, Issue #49 |