2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Backus Vineyard
Estimated value
Buying options
Tasting notes
Based on 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Malbec, and 7% Petit Verdot and aged 24 months in 100% new French oak, the 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Backus Vineyard offers up black and blue fruit, liquid violets, graphite, and crushed stone. It's full-bodied and nicely concentrated, with polished tannins, integrated acidity, and a great finish. There are roughly 1,700 cases produced. Drink 2027-2042.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jeb Dunnuck
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Backus Vineyard is a pretty huge, dense wine. Succulent dark-toned fruit, leather, cloves, incense and chocolate stain the palate in this unabashedly flamboyant Cabernet Sauvignon. The more exuberant side of the year comes through loud and clear. The balance here is impeccable, and yet there is no hiding the intense ripeness of the year in this west-facing slope. That expression of place and vintage is what single-vineyard wines are all about.
From an eastern Oakville site, Phelps's 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Backus Vineyard is a blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Malbec and 7% Petit Verdot. Scents of crushed stone accent ripe cherries and cassis on the nose, the full-bodied palate is richly textural—somewhere between velvety and silky—and the lengthy finish adds hints of vanilla, framed by supremely supple tannins.
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.