2021 Joseph Phelps Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
A classic Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon from a family who knows exactly what that means. Inviting violet, dark fruit, tobacco, and earthy aromatics. An expressive palate loaded with blackberry and dark plum. This is a downright delicious, concentrated wine with energy and freshness for days.
Joseph Phelps has long been one of Napa Valley’s stalwarts. For more than 30 years, they have been a pacesetter for critically acclaimed wines. As Robert Parker wrote of their flagship red, 'The Insignia cuvée has been one of Napa’s great Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines since its inception in 1974' and Wine Spectator observed that Phelps is 'one of Napa Valley's benchmark Cabernet Sauvignon producers.' Their focus is on world-class standards, top growers and meticulous cellar triage with Insignia seeing only the best components each year. Phelps has a web of vineyards that would make any winemaker excited to go to work. The winery has been working exclusively with estate-owned fruit sources since 2004, and their specific sites are exceptional. They know every nuance of the land and can conjure magic and bottle thunder. And as evidenced by the press for the 2008 Insignia, Phelps’ continued march towards exclusively estate-owned vineyards is paying handsome rewards.
James Suckling
Blackcurrants, spiced cedar and dark spices with bark undertones. Full-bodied with very fine, velvety tannins. Textured and compact with a firm, lingering finish. Tight at the end. Needs time to open.
Wine Enthusiast
This powerful, densely packed wine bursts with aromas of late-picked blackberries, blueberries and cassis that give way to bold black fruit and dark-chocolate flavors accented by cloves, black pepper and cedar. The tannins are full and firm, needing several years to mellow for best enjoyment.
Wine Advocate
There should be around 30,000 cases of the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon. Tasted as a final blend, taken from tank, it reveals plenty of cherries, plus a backdrop of darker, riper fruit flavors, like cassis and blueberry. There's the requisite cedar and vanilla, from aging in oak, but it's balanced. In the mouth, the wine is medium to full-bodied, silky-velvety smooth and easy to drink, plush without being creamy or overdone, with a long, mint-accented finish.