Joseph Phelps: Founded in 1972, Joseph Phelps Vineyards is an independent, estate-based winery located outside of St. Helena. Perched on a knoll in Spring Valley, the graceful redwood winery overlooks vineyard-studded hills, the town of St. Helena and the Mayacamas Mountains to the west. The flagship wine at Joseph Phelps is Insignia, a proprietary blend, first released in 1974.
  

Joseph Phelps Insignia:

2001 Joseph Phelps Insignia Proprietary Red Wine - The flagship wine, the 2001 Insignia Proprietary Wine, an 18,000-case blend of 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Petit Verdot, and 3% Malbec, continues to live up to my high praise from last year. Rich, elegant, and nuanced, this dense ruby/purple wine offers a nose of creme de cassis, incense, licorice, chocolate, and spice box. It is full-bodied, opulently styled with plenty of tannin, but the structural aspects of the wine are well-concealed by its intensity and overall richness.

2002 Joseph Phelps Insignia Proprietary Red Wine - A beautifully made Bordeaux blend that can age for 20-30 years, 10,000-20,000 cases of Insignia are produced each year. The 2002 Insignia, the finest effort made in this century, is a blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot, 7% Petit Verdot, and 1% Malbec. Its dense purple color is accompanied by a fragrant perfume of espresso roast, Asian spices, creme de cassis, smoke, and minerals. Dense, voluptuous, full-bodied, rich, long, and harmonious, it can be enjoyed now or cellared for 2-3 decades. It is also the #1 Wine of the Year for 2005 in The Wine Spectator.

2003 Joseph Phelps Insignia Proprietary Red Wine - The 2003 Insignia (15,000 cases) performed much better this year than last, when I tasted it right after bottling. A blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Petit Verdot and the rest Malbec and Merlot, it offers up attractive aromas of licorice, black currants, espresso roast, and background toasty oak. Full-bodied, opulent, and rich with outstanding depth, purity, and harmony, sweet tannin, and a long finish, it is approachable now, but will easily last for 20 years.

2004 Joseph Phelps Insignia Proprietary Red Wine - The 2004 Insignia (the first to be 100% from the estate vineyards) is a blend of 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot, 12% Petit Verdot, and the rest Malbec. I had this wine several times in Napa, and it is a beauty. A flashy, exuberant style for Phelps, with dense ruby/purple color, a gorgeous nose of creme de cassis, incense, licorice, smoke, and spice, the wine has supple tannins, a flamboyant, full-bodied mouthfeel, and tremendous length. Despite its precociousness and up-front style, this wine should evolve easily for 20 or more years. There are 10,000 cases of the 2004.

2005 Joseph Phelps Insignia Proprietary Red Wine - Since 2004, 100% of the Bordeaux varietals used in the Insignia proprietary blend have been from estate vineyards. The beautiful, dense ruby/purple-tinged 2005 Insignia (a 12,500-case blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Petit Verdot, and 1% Malbec) possesses sweet aromas of black cherries, cassis, chocolate, camphor, and a subtle hint of roasted herbs. Medium to full-bodied and elegant, with a European style imposed on the rich, velvety, California fruit, this cuvee will benefit from several years of bottle age, and should easily keep for three decades.

The Freestone Vineyard, a 100-acre, cool climate site planted on the Sonoma Coast by Joseph Phelps, is finally coming into production, offering consumers a bevy of different Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs. There are three Chardonnay offerings, all of which emphasize the minerality and citrusy characteristics of this varietal with little intrusive oak, despite the fact that they are barrel-fermented and aged primarily in new French oak. The Cabernet Sauvignon program consists of three wines, the Cabernet Sauvignon, their famous proprietary red wine called Insignia, and their single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon from the western hillsides of Oakville, called Backus. The regular Cabernet is a solidly made, reliable effort usually comprised of about 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Merlot, Petit Verdot, and occasionally Malbec. The single vineyard offering comes from Oakville’s Backus Vineyard. There are typically 1,500-2,500 cases produced from this biodynamically farmed vineyard.