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2003 Joseph Phelps Insignia

Not Currently In Auction

Latest Sale Price

February 25, 2024 - $225

Estimate

RATINGS

97Robert M. Parker Jr.

... a stunner. Velvety-textured, full-bodied and opulent with abundant notes of creme de cassis, licorice, incense, flowers and subtle background oak, this rich, impeccably pure, well-balanced Cabernet is about everything you would want...

96Wine Enthusiast

... Ultrarich and smooth, with a mouthfeel that’s pure velvet, it’s fairly thick in tannins now, suggesting cellaring. But it’s huge in blackberry, dark unsweetened chocolate and spicy plum fruit, and will easily hold for a very long time..

92Stephen Tanzer

Slightly jammy aromas of blackberry, mocha and dark chocolate. Dominated by a flavor of black raspberry. Finishes with big, firm, rather fine tannins.

90Wine Spectator

Delivers a complex range of rich currant, berry and cherry fruit, cedary oak, hints of anise and sage and a persistent, lingering finish.

REGION

United States, California, Napa Valley

Napa Valley AVA is the most famous winemaking region in the United States and one of the most prestigious in the world. With nearly 43,000 acres of vineyards and more than 300 wineries, it is the heart of fine wine production in the United States. Winemaking started in Napa in 1838 when George C. Yount planted grapes and began producing wine commercially. Other winemaking pioneers followed in the late 19th century, including the founders of Charles Krug, Schramsberg, Inglenook and Beaulieu Vineyards. An infestation of phylloxera, an insect that attacks vine roots, and the onset of Prohibition nearly wiped out the nascent Napa wine industry in the early 20th century. But by the late 1950s and early 1960s Robert Mondavi and other visionaries were producing quality wines easily distinguishable from the mass-produced jug wines made in California’s Central Valley. Napa Valley’s AVA was established in 1983, and today there are 16 sub-appellations within the Napa Valley AVA. Many grapes grow well in Napa’s Mediterranean climate, but the region is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay is also very successfully cultivated, and about 30% of the AVA’s acreage is planted to white grapes, with the majority of those grapes being Chardonnay,