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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 92.9 pts. and median of 93 pts. in 10 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by acyso on 9/5/2017 & rated 93 points: Dinner at Table, Donkey and Stick (Chicago, IL): I'll say it: Eisele Vineyard is probably some of the best dirt in Napa Valley, and Phelps did amazing work with it. This bottle is a clear example of that: everything is just so... Napa cabernet about it. And I'm not referring to the modern jokes that come from the area; this is the sort of wine that made Napa great. It can easily stand up to any Bordeaux of the era. Everything about this in balance; there's green pepper, but not too much; there's ripe fruit, but it's held in check. Acidity, tannins, everything is well-integrated and nothing sticks out. (2694 views) | | | Tasted by Nanda on 9/5/2017 & rated 93 points: Just a lovely old school Napa Cab. The nose is full of plum fruit, mint and eucalyptus. The palate is remarkable -- vibrant fruit is still sweet and bright. Loads of mint, and then more mint. Structurally the acids are still lively and the tannins nearly resolved but still providing a touch of grip. (2007 views) | | | Tasted by BradKNYC on 6/15/2013: The supper club eats and drinks well in Connecticut. (Bill's.): From magnum and mildly controversial. Most seemed to greatly enjoy it, but Sugarman and I weren't all that impressed with the wine. I found it much more enjoyable and generous on the nose than on the palate, where it exhibited complex aromas of cherry fruit, dried herbs a hint of mint and dusty earth. Rather lean, with high acidity and austere tannins. Earthy with dried herbs and the fruit more in the background. The steak helped the wine, but it's certainly on the back end of its life. B+/B. (4526 views) | | | Tasted by KeithAkers on 4/10/2013 & rated 91 points: Aged meat and Aged Cabs (Mister Fister's, Chicago IL): Nose: Well balanced and aromatic nose with tones of dark red cherries, cedar, autumn leaves, and some currants. There is very good depth to this with a sense of refinement as well.
Taste: Medium/full bodied with good medium acidity and nice supporting tannins. The feel is very polished with tones of dark red cherries, cedar, currants, and some soy tones.
Overall: This was drinking well for a bit. We came back to it later on in the night and it had faded, but it still held up very well for several hours. (3743 views) | | | Tasted by DUSTOFF on 11/14/2008 & rated 93 points: Stunning complexity and life for a 1981 Cali Cab. 93 points is being conservative and I will most certainly be seeking more bottles of this fine Cabernet. (4441 views) | | | Tasted by sachsen on 7/16/2008 & rated 94 points: Drank out of better stemware than last time, similar profile, but much better than the available stems from vacation a month ago. Beautiful color wiht only a hint of bricking around the edges, this still needed time for the fruit to take over. (3122 views) | | | Tasted by sachsen on 6/15/2008 & rated 92 points: Upon removing foil, it was obvious that this had leaked--wine stained the top of cork. Upon removal, cork appeared to be flawed, with three areas of seepage evident well past the 1/4" of circumference color around the cork.
Fruit was still evident, but became less pleasant afre 45 minutes of air--seemed to be overly acidic/astringent. It blew off over the next 2 hours and drank remarkably well--reminded me of an aged bordeaux. (3046 views) | | | Tasted by shmooppee on 4/15/2007 & rated 95 points: This puppy could have lasted another 10 years. The fruit exploded and the bottle lasted over an hour before coming undone. (2371 views) | | | Tasted by psmith on 3/9/2007: Really intriguing, mature, classic Napa nose of rich red fruits and earth. Not giving on the palate, and really hiding behind a wall of coarse tannins. Will probably never fully round out, but enjoyable. (2148 views) |
| Joseph Phelps Producer website
In the late 60s, Joseph Phelps was running one of the largest construction companies in the U.S. when he won the bid to build Souverain Winery (now Rutherford Hill) located a few miles outside of St. Helena. Enamored with the beautiful Napa Valley and contemplating a career change, in 1973 he bought the 600-acre Connolly cattle ranch in Spring Valley, and began planting vineyards. The winery was completed in 1974 and that same year the first Syrah was made, the first grapes were crushed at the new facility and the first Insignia was produced. It was a period of unparalleled activity, creativity, ingenuity, entrepreneurship and risk-taking and it put Joe Phelps on the map of top Napa Valley wine producers.
Nearly four decades later, the flagship wine, Insignia, is recognized as one of the world’s great wines. Twenty nine of 34 vintages have been rated ninety or more points by various wine publications. From 1990 to 2007, the average score from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate is 94.5 pts., with the lowest score still a fabulous 91. The 2002 vintage was “Wine of the Year” by Wine Spectator Magazine, and the 2007 vintage has been rated 98 points by Robert Parker and 96 points by Wine Spectator Magazine.
Over the years, the goal of becoming 100% estate grown resulted in carefully planned acquisitions of prime vineyards in the Napa Valley. Today, the Phelps estate consists of the Spring Valley Home Ranch outside of St. Helena, Banca Dorada in Rutherford, Las Rocas and Barboza vineyards in Stags Leap, Yountville Vineyard in Oak Knoll, Suscol Vineyard in South Napa and Backus Vineyard in Oakville.
Beginning with the 2009 vintage, estate-grown wines include Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, Insignia, Backus (the single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon from Oakville) and Eisrébe, a dessert wine made from the Scheurebe grape. In addition, a small amount of Syrah is produced from fruit owned by Hyde Vineyards in Los Carneros.
Though the main focus is on Bordeaux varietals, Joe Phelps has had a life-long love affair with the wines of Burgundy and a desire to craft wines in that style. Originally Chardonnay was sourced from St. Helena, later from Yountville and then from Los Carneros. Through the years, however, Joe continued to search for the ideal spot to grow both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and his search ended when the perfect combination of climate, soil and location was found in Freestone, located in the Sonoma Coast AVA, a mere eight miles from the Pacific Ocean. In 1999, 200 acres were acquired and planting began. Today, 80 acres of Pinot Noir and 20 acres of Chardonnay are producing some remarkable wines which are available for tasting at the Freestone Guest Center. Visit Freestone Vineyards to learn more.Cabernet SauvignonCabernet Sauvignon is probably the most famous red wine grape variety on Earth. It is rivaled in this regard only by its Bordeaux stablemate Merlot, and its opposite number in Burgundy, Pinot Noir. From its origins in Bordeaux, Cabernet has successfully spread to almost every winegrowing country in the world. It is now the key grape variety in many first-rate New World wine regions, most notably Napa Valley, Coonawarra and Maipo Valley. Wherever they come from, Cabernet Sauvignon wines always seem to demonstrate a handful of common character traits: deep color, good tannin structure, moderate acidity and aromas of blackcurrant, tomato leaf, dark spices and cedarwood.
Used as frequently in blends as in varietal wines, Cabernet Sauvignon has a large number of common blending partners. Apart from the obvious Merlot and Cabernet Franc, the most prevalent of these are Malbec, Petit Verdot and Carmenere (the ingredients of a classic Bordeaux Blend), Shiraz (in Australia's favorite blend) and in Spain and South America, a Cabernet – Tempranillo blend is now commonplace. Even the bold Tannat-based wines of Madiran are now generally softened with Cabernet SauvignonEisele Vineyard On weinlagen-infoUSAAmerican wine has been produced since the 1500s, with the first widespread production beginning in New Mexico in 1628. Today, wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with California producing 84% of all U.S. wine. The continent of North America is home to several native species of grape, including Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia, Vitis rotundifolia, and Vitis vulpina, but the wine-making industry is based almost entirely on the cultivation of the European Vitis vinifera, which was introduced by European settlers. With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) under vine, the United States is the fourth-largest wine producing country in the world, after Italy, Spain, and France.California2021 vintage: "Unlike almost all other areas of the state, the Russian River Valley had higher than normal crops in 2021, which has made for a wine of greater generosity and fruit forwardness than some of its stablemates." - Morgan Twain-Peterson Napa Valley Napa Valley Wineries and Wine (Napa Valley Vintners)Napa ValleySt. Helena |
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