1985 Joseph Phelps "Insignia" Napa Valley Bordeaux Blend

“The 1985 vintage of Joseph Phelps Insignia showed brilliantly at our tasting. In this vintage, the wine was composed from a cépages of sixty percent cabernet sauvignon, twenty-five percent merlot and fifteen percent cabernet franc. Like the ’85 Eisele, this is quite ripe by the standards of the 1985 vintage, coming in listed also at 13.5 percent alcohol. The wine is now at its apogee and drinking with grace and marvelous complexity, wafting from the glass in a blend of cassis, cherries, cigar ash, mint, a complex base of dark soil tones, a hint of petroleum jelly, a discreet framing of vanillin oak and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and very refined in profile, with a plush core of fruit, melting tannins, impeccable focus and balance and a very long, complex and dancing finish. This is truly stunning wine!” (05/2021)

“Fresh, lively notes of spice box, roasted herbs, black currants and plums are followed by a dark, broodingly backward wine with impressive richness, full body and a long finish displaying light to moderate tannins. The acidity is more vibrant and noticeable than in other vintages, but the wine has more than sufficient lushness and extravagance of fruit and glycerin to balance out the structural components.” (11/2013)