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Joseph Phelps Insignia - $169.99

Wine Details

Vintage: 2006
Price: $169.99
Producer: Joseph Phelps Vineyards
Region: Napa Valley
Varietal: Bordeaux - Red
Container Size: 750 ML
Flavors:
  • Award Winning
  • Red Wine
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Product Description

  • The 2004 vintage marks the first time Insignia has been blended entirely from estate-grown fruit - the fulfillment of a dream that has taken many years to realize. The low-yield vintage produced a wine with syrupy blackberry and blueberry aromas married with seductive spice, followed by velvety tannins, roundness in the finish and outstanding texture, all of which are superbly integrated.

Expert Ratings

Ratings   Vintage Source Flavors
Tanzer - 92-95 Details: (92% cabernet sauvignon, 7% petit verdot and 1% merlot) Good deep ruby. Reticent dark fruit and mineral aromas. Then broad, sweet and vibrant in the mouth, showing considerably more flavor today than the 2005 Backus. The petit verdot component gives weight to the cooler cassis and black cherry flavors. Very tightly structured, vibrant wine with a strong tannic spine for aging. If this puts on mid-palate flesh during the final months of elevage it will merit a score at the high end of my projected range. 2005 Tanzer black cherry, cassis, dark fruit, mineral
Tanzer - 93(+?) Details: ($200; cabernet sauvignon with 14% merlot, 12% petit verdot and 2% minerals) Bright ruby-red. Complex nose melds cassis, black cherry, lead pencil and cedar. Sweet and fat but with a firm structure and very good vinosity. There's a sappy quality to the currant, cedar and chocolate flavors. Boasts the density of the vintage's best examples but, in comparison to the Backus, the tannins hit the palate a bit earlier. The very long finish hints at cedar and graphite. I'd put this aside for a couple of years. 2004 Tanzer blackberries, cassis, graphite, incense, minerals
WineSpectator - 94 Details: Tight and complex, with a deep, potent core of ripe currant, herb, sage and dusty berry fruit, shaded by light toasty, cedary oak. Deftly balanced, intense and concentrated, this is young and closed in now, yet you can taste the depth and richness. Tannic. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Malbec. Best from 2010 through 2020. 9,000 cases made. –JL 2004 WineSpectator berry, currant, herb, oak, sage
CGCW - 94 Details: 72% Cabernet Sauvignon; 14% Malbec; 12% Petit Verdot; 2% Malbec. Among the richest and most succulent wines to be had in December's very fine bunch, Phelps's latest Insignia is a sweet and flamboyant wine that literally oozes concentrated, cassis-like fruit. It is filled out by lots of very rich, creme caramel oak, and it finds added dimension by way of its loamy earth accents. Its ample, well-tailored tannins go nearly unnoticed in light of its wonderfully plush texture, and if there are temptations to enjoy this plump and polished offering in its youth, there are manifold reasons to believe that it will continue to unfold and to improve for a decade or more. 2004 CGCW caramel, earth, oak
Tanzer - 92 Details: ($175; a blend of 84% cabernet sauvignon, 10% petit verdot, 3% merlot and 3% malbec) Full ruby-red. Slightly jammy aromas of blackberry, mocha and dark chocolate. Not especially dense or fleshy but has an attractive juicy quality and good life. Dominated by a flavor of black raspberry. Finishes with big, firm, rather fine tannins. 2003 Tanzer blackberry, currant, licorice, menthol, mint
CGCW - 92 Details: 10% Petit Verdot; 3% Merlot; 3% Malbec. Not surprisingly, this year's Insignia again takes its accustomed place near the head of its class. It is a very deep and involving wine with a genuinely complex interplay of ripe cherries, sweet smoke, subtle herbs and notes of dusty soil running its length. As always, it displays hallmark polish and exemplary balance, yet it is never wanting for richness or strength. It deserves to be set aside for at least four or five years and has a very good shot at improving for a decade or more. 2003 CGCW cherries, herbs, smoke
WineSpectator - 90 Details: Supple, polished and harmonious, though not in the class of the 2002. Nonetheless, delivers a complex range of rich currant, berry and cherry fruit, cedary oak, hints of anise and sage, and a persistent, lingering finish. Mildly tannic. Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Merlot. Drink now through 2011. 12,000 cases made. –JL 2003 WineSpectator anise, berry, cherry, currant, oak, sage
Tanzer - 95 Details: ($150; a blend of 78% cabernet sauvignon, 14% merlot, 7% petit verdot and 1% malbec) Ruby-red. Sexy aromas of black raspberry, cedar, coffee, tobacco and bitter chocolate. Lush and smooth on entry, then dense and juicy in the middle, with intense, layered, sharply delineated dark berry and dark chocolate flavors saturating the entire palate. A powerful wine that is already quite expressive. Builds impressively on the back half, showing superb extract and a sweet finishing flavor of dark chocolate. This is consistently one of California 's very few great cabernet-based wines that is not from a single vineyard. Williams ranks this '02 with the winery's top recent vintages: 2001, 1999, 1997, 1994 and 1991. 2002 Tanzer oak
WineSpectator - 96 Details: A rich, polished, seductive style with layers of complexity built around a dense, concentrated mix of currant, blackberry, plum and exotic mocha- and cedar-scented oak. This mouthcoating young wine is powerful yet elegant and deftly balanced, finishing with a long, succulent aftertaste. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Malbec. Best from 2008 through 2014. 15,000 cases made. –JL 2002 WineSpectator blackberry, currant, oak, plum
WineAndSpirits - 93 Details: A luscious vintage of Insignia, this '02 has the sleek feel of fine Napa Valley cabernet. There's fragrant red berry and forest-floor character at the center of the wine, then blacker currant flavors and tannin softened by luxurious oak in the end. Touches of super-ripeness add to the richness without diminishing the wine's freshness. Readily enjoyable now, and balanced to mature through 2010. 2002 WineAndSpirits
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Food Pairings

Category Pairing
Cheese Soft Pungent Cheese
Pasta & Grains Lasagna
Sauces Red Wine Sauce

Awards and Accolades

  Name Vintage
Award Winner Top 50 Cellar Selections - 2007 Wine Enthusiast 2003

Wine Terms

Name Value
Napa This tiny strip of land just north of San Francisco is home to America’s most prestigious wineries. Its climate is ideal for viticulture. Ironically, it was deemed too ideal for some vintners, who have moved their vineyards from the valley’s flat plain to the hills in the east and west, adhering to the idea that grapes that struggle to grow yield better wine. The climate, soil, and individual wineries are enormously varied, so it’s impossible to identify a singular trait of Napa wines. In addition, nearly every noble grape is grown here, although Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon are the primary grapes. In the past, Napa’s wines have alternated between extremely fruity and fat to lean and subtle. Today the best Napa wines have achieved a balance between these extremes. Many are made to be drunk young and have abundant ripe fruit; others can be initially hard and tannic, but soften over four or five years to perfumed, cedary fruit. White Napa wines are excellent with fresh-grilled fish and chicken, but can also cope with more spicy and creamy flavors. Many Napa reds will overwhelm delicate cuisine, but rich red meat and cheeses do make good companions.
United States Wineries exist in all fifty states, but the most predominant (and best) wine comes from Northern California, Oregon, and Washington State, with New York gaining a foothold in the industry. American wines make up about 75% of all wine sales in the US. The appellation system uses the term AVA (American Viticultural Area) to determine where wines were produced, but grape varieties can be planted anywhere in the country. American wineries generally use varietal labeling, and government regulations require that the variety on the label must make up at least 75% of the blend (in Oregon it’s 90%). The words reserve, special selection, private reserve, classic, and so on have no legal definition in the US. Some wineries use these terms to indicate their better wines; others use the words as a marketing tool to move lower quality wines off the shelf.
California California produces the majority of wine made in the United States. Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel and Pinot Noir dominate the wine production in California, but many other varietials thrive in the California climate. Many fine wines are produced in California using Mediterranean grapes.
Napa County Napa County is located north of the San Francisco Bay Area in California. At the north end of Napa County is the Bay Area's second tallest peak Mount Saint Helena, and to the far south of Napa County lays the section of the Napa Valley that bleeds into Carneros. When the first white settlers arrived in the early 1830s, there were six tribes in the valley speaking different dialects and they were often at war with each other. The Mayacomos tribe lived in the area where Calistoga was founded. Napa County was one of the original counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood. Napa Valley is widely considered one of the top wine regions in California and all of the United States. By the end of the nineteenth century there were more than one hundred and forty wineries in the area. Today Napa Valley features more than two hundred wineries and grows many different grape varieties including Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, and Zinfandel. The region is visited by as many as five million people each year, making it the second to Disneyland as the most popular tourist destination in California.

Tasting Notes

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