$300 Wine Tasting: A Critical Review of Joseph Phelps Insignia

Transcript:

00:00:00:00 – 00:00:29:05
The huge tannins, the huge body, the huge fruits, the huge explosion of flavors, huge spices, huge oak. But still it’s somewhat restrained in the delivery. This wine right here, Insignia by Joseph Phelps, is a Napa Valley legend. They call it a true American wine icon. They say it received critical acclaim and achieved cult status. This is a cult wine.

00:00:29:05 – 00:00:51:07
But is it really worth the hype? Is it worth the money? What is it all about really? Should you buy this more than a Bordeaux that is similarly priced? Or is it better than Opus One and other Napa Valley wines that are so iconic, for example? What do I like about it? The things that annoy me with it as well?

00:00:51:07 – 00:01:12:18
All of this in today’s video, this is my critical review. I spent $300 on this bottle so you don’t have to. Let’s talk about it.

00:01:12:20 – 00:01:40:17
What I love most of all about winemaking is seeing the full year, the vines growing, harvest, fermentation, blending, bottling, and really realizing how many people were involved in creating a bottle of wine. It’s living. And let’s get opening in this little baby. Joseph Phelps is one of Napa Valley most prominent wine producers, and you need a little bit of background about it.

00:01:40:17 – 00:01:58:07
This is an estate and winery established in Northern California in Napa since 1973. Yes, over 50 years ago by now, which is quite a long time for Napa.

00:01:58:09 – 00:02:26:24
The story, in short, Joseph Phelps himself was running a construction company in Colorado when he invested in Napa, where he started making wine from grapes imported from Denver initially, believe it or not. But then he bought a cattle ranch in the valley and started planting vineyards, as one does, to make his own estate wine.

00:02:27:01 – 00:02:58:22
The now iconic Redwood winery is located just outside Saint Helena and crops vineyards across the Napa Valley, notably from Stag’s Leap Oak, Noel Well, the Ford and also, Oakville. But I believe they buy grapes from different growers around the Napa Valley as well. But this Insignia is their flagship wine, the cream of the crop. The crème de la crème literally, 100% estate to grown grapes.

00:02:58:22 – 00:03:28:00
Their best grapes, in fact. The legend goes that Phelps wanted to move away from varietal blending, of Cabernet Sauvignon, essentially, and create a wine that could be a little bit different every year. Sorry, I’m messing this up a little bit. I’m not really focused on opening this bottle too much, just telling you this story, but let’s move on.

00:03:28:02 – 00:03:54:09
So he wanted a wine that expressed the vintage a little bit. That could be different every year depending on the conditions which seems to be true as insignia varies in ratings between 95 and 100 points out of 100, depending on the year. Nowadays, several vintages have indeed been awarded 100 points out of 100 by legendary iconic wine critic Robert Parker.

00:03:54:11 – 00:04:23:08
Good video about him here. This is a Bordeaux blend, so not only Cabernet Sauvignon, but of course Cabernet is the main grape variety blended with other Bordeaux grapes, namely ptit verdot, a bit of Cabernet Franc and a bit of Malbec. And I think they want to introduce some merlot. In 2019 vintage, this is, so that’s a five year old wine, which will give us an indication of how age worthy this wine is, how long you can cellar it for.

00:04:23:10 – 00:04:48:00
And it’s also 19, a bit of an average vintage, not the best vintage of the century and but not the worst either. So it’s going to give us a good reference point on how good Joseph Phelps Insignia really, truly is. Let’s get tasting, shall we?

00:04:48:02 – 00:05:08:04
Here, I want to get to here at least three things that I like about this wine, which I will tell you in a minute. And three things that I really don’t like so much and that annoy me. Let’s explore. Well, first, the color is absolutely gorgeous, really dark, really, really deep. As we expect from Napa, black to the core.

00:05:08:04 – 00:05:32:06
If you look at the rim, which is always really good to do, it’s still more purple red than orange, which tells us that it still looks really young and doesn’t look like it’s evolved much at all, even after five years. But let’s sniff. Oh my goodness, does this smell good?

00:05:32:08 – 00:05:59:14
Basically, this straight away smells like rich, ripe Cabernet Sauvignon 101 with quite a lot of fine oak aromas. Essentially a ton of blackcurrant and cassis. It makes me salivate already, which is the signature of Cabernet Sauvignon aroma, which also also has a ton of very ripe, somewhat cooked but still fresh enough aromas of blackberry, dark cherry, strawberry jam and so on.

00:05:59:14 – 00:06:32:19
So a bit of prune as well, loads of rich ripe berries and then plenty of oaky vanilla wood smoke, a bit of toasted hazelnut, the oak aromas essentially, but you can smell it’s fine oak, complex and deep. Honestly, I love the nose. Very American with all this oak, very Napa, with all this fruit ripeness, but complex and fine. But let’s dig further into the palate and taste, shall we?

00:06:32:21 – 00:07:01:20
Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh. Wow. Chewy. My goodness gracious man, this is quite something. Indeed. I’m more used to tasting Bordeaux wines than Napa, although I did work in Napa and I know California pretty well, but this is honestly pretty impressive. The impressive aspect for me is how well it holds in your mouth. The tannins are really dense and really tight.

00:07:01:20 – 00:07:22:03
So the wine is very chewy and it has a lot of composure on the palate, which is the mark of very fine wine to hold up on your palate really well. And that’s extremely well balanced. It’s powerful with the alcohol, but it doesn’t bother too much since the acidity matches the body and the warmth of the alcohol really well.

00:07:22:21 – 00:07:48:14
Now the flavors are those that we detected on the nose, the ripe and cooked berries, the many facets of fine dark roast oak. What strikes me is certainly the immense power that this one delivers, but also the composure that it gives out. The huge tannins, the huge body, the huge fruits, the huge explosion of flavors, huge spices, huge oak.

00:07:48:16 – 00:08:13:05
But still it’s somewhat restrained in the delivery. This one keeps a lot for itself to be exposed and delivered over time. It feels young. Essentially, it feels introvert, at this point, despite its five years of age. The trademark of great fine wines. Before we talk about how long it can age for, 3 things that I like about this insignia by Joseph Phelps.

00:08:13:05 – 00:08:42:03
First, the packaging for me, it’s very clean, very premium, some more traditional for Napa, but Napa Valley and this for me means classy big Napa Valley looks like it, but great quality. So I think the packaging matches the wine perfectly; the large shoulders of the bottle, you have this bottle at a restaurant, everyone around knows that you’re having something quite special and expensive because it really looks like it.

00:08:42:03 – 00:09:13:07
Secondly, that composed density that I talked about is to me, what you expect and what I love about Napa Valley. It’s much bigger than most Bordeaux wines, not denser tannins, because Bordeaux wines can be really, really dense as well, but more powerful in body and alcohol. But still, it has that some that same finesse and complexity of what we call a grand vin in French, a great wine with great selling potential, very complex, so extremely interesting.

00:09:13:07 – 00:09:35:11
And then I have the balance as a way to make it. I can recognize a blend that is well executed. You need to match the power from some grapes and some vineyards with the smoothness from some others. And this wine is extremely smooth overall and very precise, balanced blend. So well done to the winemakers. Three things that I don’t like.

00:09:35:11 – 00:10:01:22
Well, the oak for me is a little too marked for my palate. I know American wines tend to be a little too generous in oak for Frenchmen at least. But the vanilla flavors specifically here are a bit too pronounced and dominant, which gives for me a little treat of unnecessary ordinary flavors, if you wish, on what is otherwise an excellent base.

00:10:01:24 – 00:10:30:10
It’s like putting a huge wing on the back of an otherwise really classy supercar like, say, an Aston Martin. You have a super classy shape and you stick a huge wing on the back of it. Why? It’s unnecessary. Then, secondly, the price is quite annoying. $300 is not cheap in Napa. Wines aren’t cheap. They are quite pricey if you compare it to other Napa wines that are say $100.

00:10:30:10 – 00:10:54:07
Well, this is probably better than most $100 of Napa wine, so it’s probably quite worth the extra money all things considered, if any wine is worth $300. Finally, well this one is really too young to fully enjoy now. But that’s just a matter of time. Of course. How long can it age for, given it’s five years old and it feels like it’s just out of the barrel?

00:10:54:10 – 00:11:39:13
Well, let’s say it can easily aged for 20 years at least. Then it’ll be ready around 2030 and probably enjoyable still until 2040 or 2045. So definitely age worthy wine. Better than a Bordeaux for the price? Not better, but different. More American, as I’ve described. You don’t get the French prestige of a chateau. Not quite the same finesse either, but you get the full bodied Napa Valley experience, the American icon prestige, and the quality is probably as good as the equivalent you’d get from a Bordeaux with more oak, and maybe not as special or better than an obvious one.

00:11:39:15 – 00:12:01:22
Well, I’d say just a little bit. I’m going to score the 2019 vintage of Insignia and 96 out of 100 points, which is exactly what I gave Opus One 2018. I think Insignia is more American in style, while Opus One felt a little more European. And if personally I buy American, I’d rather have American, but it’s just me.

00:12:01:23 – 00:12:22:21
Have you had Insignia yourself? What did you think about it? Is there any alternatives from Napa or Bordeaux that you’d recommend? What should I taste next on this channel? Please let me know in the comments! More videos for you that are super interesting. Keep watching the channel like and subscribe to support. Drink safe and tasty and I will see you soon in the wonderful world of wine.

00:12:22:21 – 00:12:30:08
Cheers!