Joseph Phelps was the first in modern Californian wine industry to produce a Syrah, but the flavor and texture here, like so many similarly rated wines, is largely oak-derived. Yes, there’s some quite sweet blackberry and red berry, meat, toast and caramel flavors. Still, our tasters found this decidedly wood-dominated and not well-defined. Not bad, but disappointing.——W.E.(11/1/2001)—— 86