The 2019 Joseph Phelps Insignia is a powerhouse Napa Valley red blend, showcasing depth, structure, and finesse in one of the winery’s most refined vintages to date. Aged in 100% new French oak, it blends Cabernet Sauvignon with touches of Petit Verdot and Malbec for a bold yet elegant expression.

Jamessuckling.com | JS 98
Published: Jul 16, 2022

A very aromatic Insignia with pencil-shaving and graphite highlights to the dark fruit and blackberries. Full-bodied, yet tensioned and vertical, with very fine tannins that run deep and layered in the wine. Needs time to come together, but fantastic tension and structure. Try after 2027.

Decanter | D 97
Published: Jul 5, 2022
Drink: 2032-2050

Smells ripe and heady on the nose, expressive and seductive. This is rich and bold, it's edging on too much, with lots of wood on show in the slightly heavy texture, liquorice and coffee flavour and fullness in the mouth but there are such alluring and captivating aspects to this wine with striking details of rose, tobacco, blackberry, red berries and dark chocolate shavings on show. I like the fragranced aspects and the energetic acidity that gives lift and a sense of brightness but this is a strong, powerful and muscular wine that will need at least a decade to come around. Given enough time it will be beautiful. Ageing 24 months in 100% new French oak.
Closure: Cork
Alcohol: 14.50%
Body: Full
Grapes: 93% Cabernet Sauvignon 2% Malbec 5% Petit Verdot

The Wine Advocate | RP 96
Published: May 4, 2023
Drink: 2023-2040

More elegant and refined than the Napa Cab, the 2019 Insignia features restrained cedar and vanilla notes (despite spending two years in 100% new French oak) and delicate herbal shadings accenting cassis and black cherry fruit. Full-bodied, velvety and somewhat open-knit on the palate, it turns plush and long on the finish, adding a touch of warmth. Production this year is approximately 17,000 cases, reflecting the increased volume coming from recently replanted vineyards. It's remarkable what a good job they continue to do with this bottling year after year, without compromising on quality.

It was a gorgeous afternoon when I pulled into the parking lot at Joseph Phelps Winery. For those who haven't been, it's tucked into a small side valley east of the Silverado Trail in Saint Helena, a short ways up Taplin Road. The terrace overlooking the vineyards and old winery building are beautiful settings in which to taste, and a high shelf in the interior is home to an impressive lineup of empty trophy bottles consumed by the founder.

Winemaker Ashley Hepworth had been at Phelps for 23 years when I visited in February, but she has since departed to start her own consulting business. Assistant winemaker Kelly Fields—18 years with Phelps—also joined us for the tasting, and I believe she is staying on. I wrote in my notes at the time that they showed remarkable longevity for non-family members in a Napa winery—I hope I didn't jinx anything!

Getting back to the wines, this was primarily a look at the 2019s from bottle and the 2021s from barrel (or tank). Hepworth explained that they picked about one-third of the red fruit in 2020 but "couldn't make the wines work," so that wine was sold in bulk. From 2008-2016, the Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon was actually all estate, but it now includes some grower fruit to replace missing volumes from vineyards that are being replanted. The winery owns roughly 400 acres in Napa Valley, with about 80 under redevelopment. According to Hepworth, it's usually a bit under 50% new oak, mostly French but includes a small proportion of American (less than 25%).

The big boys here are Insignia and the Backus Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, both top-quality wines but made in contrasting styles. Insignia is a wine blended from several sites and typically quite lush, meant to epitomize the ripeness and softness of the valley floor, while Backus, from a single vineyard, is more structured. Both Backus and Insignia age in 100% new French oak.

Given the attention to Cabernet Sauvignon at Phelps, it would be easy to overlook the winery's long history with Syrah, which Joe Phelps bottled as a varietal wine in 1974—the first in California. Today, the Syrah is sourced from Larry Hyde, in Carneros, but it remains a terrific wine—and one that sells for about two-thirds of the price of the Napa Valley Cabernet. Co-fermented with a small amount of Viognier (like Côte-Rôtie), it's the unsung gem in the winery's portfolio.

The 2021s look promising here, as at so many of the wineries I've visited. Fields said overall yields were down about 10% from the 10-year average. May was chilly and rainy, which got the vegetative growth off to a good start, but then the summer was dry, with no major heat waves. "Canopy management was key," according to Fields.

Josephphelps.com

A Winery Exclusive Release Of The Highly Anticipated 2019 Joseph Phelps Insignia.
Winemaker Notes: The 2019 Insignia opens with heady aromatics of red fruit, crème de cassis, leafy tobacco and delicate dried rose petals. The palate is juicy and dense with expressive layers of blackberry, raspberry, black currant, and dark chocolate. A dynamic wine offering captivating energy, length, complexity and refinement. The 2019 Insignia marks the first vintage to include fruit from the new Joseph Phelps vineyard named El Venadito, located in the Oak Knoll District, just south of the winery’s Yountville Vineyard.