Joseph Phelps
Insignia
Napa Valley
2016

The producer

In 1973, Joe Phelps planted 40 hectares of vineyards on the eastern side of St Helena. Today the Phelps family owns and farms 170 hectares of vine, spread over 8 vineyard parcels, in prime Napa Valley appellations. Before long, in 1974, Joe had the idea to make a super-premium cuvee that would represent the finest which his vineyards could make and as such, that same year, Insignia was born. 

The wine

In the beginning the proportion of grape varieties comprising ‘Insignia’ would vary, from a majority of Cabernet Sauvignon in some vintages and a majority of Merlot in others. But from 1977 onwards, Cabernet Sauvignon was never less than 50% of the Insignia blend and gradually became the dominating variety. Over the years, Insignia has received numerous accolades, including the 2002 vintage being awarded “Wine of the Year” by Wine Spectator magazine, and 1991, 1997, 2002, and 2007 vintages, all receiving 100 point scores by Robert Parker. 

2016 Insignia Release from Joseph Phelps Vineyards 

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.