Buying options
Tasting notes
Insignia, the top wine made at the estate, and since 2004 using only estate fruit, was conceived to represent the best wine that the family could make in any given vintage. It didn’t have to be the same wine every year – in the early days it was even a white wine in some vintages. But with its unmatched vineyard locations for growing Cabernet Sauvignon, the Phelps family found that they had the most wonderful fruit to choose from to make Bordeaux blends, with plots neighbouring Heitz and Bond in St Helena, as well as in Rutherford, Oakville, the Stags Leap District, the Oak Knoll District and South Napa Valley. In 2016 the blend is 84% Cabernet, 10% Petit Verdot, 3% Malbec and 3% Cabernet Franc. Having tasted it ourselves, we were impressed by the fresh red fruit, cherry, plum, and sweet strawberry on the front palate, followed by a surge of fresh mint, dark blackberry fruit, violets, cocoa and coffee, with fine, mineral tannins and a long, elegant finish. With the critics hailing the 2016 as one of the best Insignias ever made (for Antonio Galloni it is “second only to 2013 among the top vintages of this decade so far”), this is one not to miss.
Critic scores
Average Score
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Is the 2016 Insignia the next 1997? Coming mostly from the Stags Leap region, with the rest from the Home Ranch, this deep purple-colored beauty offers a magical bouquet of crème de cassis, fruitcake, forest floor, tobacco leaf, and toasted spices. It shows even more complexity with time in the glass and is a full-bodied, powerful, ageworthy example of this cuvée that’s going to benefit from 4-5 years of bottle age and keep for 25+ years or more.
The 2016 Insignia has turned out beautifully. Silky, layered and positively striking, the 2016 is magnificent. In this vintage, Insignia is especially silky, refined and understated, which is unusual for this wine that has often been more bombastic. Readers will have to be patient with the 2016, as it needs at least several years in bottle to be at its very best, but this is all finesse and class. (AG)
Elegant, silky, forward, fresh, clean and pure, the wine exudes class and an open character. Full-bodied, deep, but not overpowering, the texture is lush, soft and polished. Made from a blend of all 5 Bordeaux varietals, 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Petit Verdot, 3% Cabernet Franc and, 3% Malbec, even though the wine was aged in 100% new, French oak, most of the wood has already fully integrated into the wine.
About the producer
California winery Joseph Phelps is best known for its flagship Insignia cuvée, one of the first and finest proprietary red wines in the Napa Valley.
Product details
Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec/ Auxerrois / Cot
Red
Dry