| Score: |
94 JG.
"True to the Phelps impeccable track record throughout the vintages of the 1980s (in my book the golden age at Joseph Phelps did not end until the 1990s), the 1985 Eisele is a beautiful and very classic bottle of cabernet that probably is one of the top two or three wines of the vintage. The bouquet is deep and glorious, as it soars from the glass in a mélange of cassis, black berries, mint, bitter chocolate, tobacco, vanillin oak and cigar smoke. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, deep and still fairly chewy, with great depth at the core, ripe, well-integrated tannins and excellent length and grip on the complex and palate-staining finish. I would still give this wine another three or four years to unfold, as it has not yet fully blossomed. A lovely example of the 1985 vintage." John Gilman, View From the Cellar, Jul/Aug 2008, Issue #16 |