The 20,000+ cases of Joseph Phelps Cabernet Sauvignon, the 1997 is excellent. While not very open-knit and expressive, it is well-made, with attractive, cedary, tobacco, and black currant fruit, excellent color saturation, a spicy, sweet mid-palate, and soft tannin in its medium to full-bodied finish. It can be drunk now, or cellared for 12-15 years. Tel. (707) 963-2745; Fax (707) 963-4831

Full black-currant aromas with some briar and dust. Blackberry fruit on the palate, but most of all lots of charred oak manifested as coffee and bitter chocolate. In golf, this would be a middle-of-the fairway drive, but without the distance. It’s fresh and well made.——W.E.(11/1/2000)—— 90