Joseph Phelps Vineyards : Insignia 2021

A Napa stalwart, the 2021 Insignia is a blend of 93% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Petit Verdot, 2% Cabernet Franc and 2% Malbec, aged in 100% new French oak. Cedar and vanilla scents accent black cherries and a hint of redcurrants on the nose, while the medium to full-bodied palate is soft and plush, easy to enjoy now but with the requisite concentration to age for up to two decades. Long, silky and tart on the finish, it's another in a long line of successful Insignias.

Singed alder and sweet tobacco lead off, backed by waves of lush warmed cassis and plum reduction. Chestnut and warm earth notes help drive the finish. Burly and muscular now, but the core of fruit shows inner purity. This will need some time. Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2028 through 2041. 16,600 cases made.

The 2021 Joseph Phelps Insignia is well-endowed with structured, soaring tannins balanced by tension and pure fruit character. A blend of 93% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Petit Verdot, 2% Malbec, and 2% Cabernet Franc, aged 24 months in 100% new French oak barrels, it shows a luminescent medium ruby colour in the glass. Rich huckleberry fruit is laced with tobacco, sage, pepperonata, and toasty cedarwood notes. Medium- to full-bodied and more expressive on the palate with pure red fruit character, layered with earth and wet river stone minerality, finishing with a hint of salted dark chocolate. The tannins build on the palate, becoming more assertive, and though they are well-integrated, this is such a youthful wine with great energy, power and tension, and is best enjoyed after 2025.

A standout vintage for one of California’s most collectible cabernet sauvignons. The color is black throughout, but with a dark garnet rim. Gorgeous aromatics of spearmint, pencil shavings, toasted oak and dark plums, before a silky, fresh but firm texture takes over the palate and dusky blackcurrant, tobacco-leaf, rose-petal and cedar notes emerge and linger. Full-bodied and saturated with rounded, well-integrated tannins that emerge on the lingering finish and keep melting in the glass. It will drink best from 2028.

The 2021 Insignia is gorgeous. Dark, fresh and vibrant, the 2021 impresses with its purity of fruit and fine balance. Readers will find an understated Insignia built on finesse and nuance more than size. Its vibrancy is compelling, but the 2021 is a bit quiet today. That should not be an issue in time.

Always raised in 100% new oak, the 2021 Insignia checks in as 93% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Petit Verdot, 2% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Malbec. It has a rocking nose of blackcurrants, cedar pencil, chocolaty oak, and graphite. This carries to a deep, full-bodied 2021 with a dense, stacked mid-palate, ripe, polished, yet building tannins, the vintage's purity and structure, and a great finish. With roughly 16,000 cases, it's one of the few releases in Napa Valley to deliver this level of quality at this production level.