• 1991 Joseph Phelps Insignia - USA, California, Napa Valley (5/18/2005)
  Purchased on release for $30. Vibrant color, still no bricking, just slightly clear on the rims. You could smell the wonderful menthol and ripe berry bouquet while it was being decanted at the table. A serious and masculine wine, with profound intensity and riveting structure. It gained steam over the course of two hours and paired wonderfully with my lamb chops. The mint carries through on the palate, but does not mask a river of ripe blackcurrant and juniper berry flavor. Big, stroppy chewy tannins on the finish. This is the most ageworthy Insignia I’ve had (other than the inaugural release in the mid-1970s). Will try my last bottle in 2010. Drinking much better than the ’90 and ’92 (which are past their prime IMO). (95 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker!

Cheers,

Otis

this was one of my epiphany wines back in 99' - nice to see it's still alive & kicking!

Otis, thanks for bringing this wine to dinner, it was a real treat! It was fascinating to watch the wine's color become darker and more youthful as it aerated.

Interesting that we bought this wine on release at the same store for the same $28.99 price -- makes you wonder what has happened to CalCab prices...

The '91 has always shown differently than later vintages of Insignia in that it was almost undrinkable on release but has become better and better with age. I'm pretty sure that 1991 was the last vintage that Phelps received Herb Lamb fruit, which might explain the differences.

We'll need to do this again in about five years!

Mark

Nice note. Any idea of the % alcohol on this wine.

-Brett

I dug out an old fact sheet on the '91 Insignia, and the alcohol at bottling was listed at 13.3%. Most of the top 1991 CalCabs had alcohol levels in the 12.5%-13.5% range...

Mark

We had this wine tonight. The color was dark purple with no hint of brown at the edges. It had a nice, not overly powerful, nose of cedar, cinnamon, tobacco, and bay leaf. On the palate, the wine was complex and rich, but still tannic. Plenty of plummy dark fruit flavors, along with ample not-so-soft tannins, indicate this wine still needs a little time to integrate. 91-93

After a madeirized 1979 BV GdL and a corked 1982 BV GdL were dumped, I opened our last bottle of the 1991 Insignia. It had a lovely nose of wet earth, cigar box, and some baked fruit. On the palate, lush dark cherry and dark fruit flavors melded with youthful tannins to yield a delicious wine with a better future ahead of it. This wine is still 2 or more years away from ready. I'm sorry I don't have any left. 92-95

We'll be having this tomorrow, should this be decanted? There will be four of us drinking this wine (among a few others) and I don't anticipate the wine will last long in the glass!

Sure, decant it too take the wine off the sediment. I hope this bottle is standing up. I'm betting you're going to love it.

What a fantastic wine, the aromas leapt from the decanter with a huge nose of ripe red fruit with a touch of cedar and spice. Black purple with no noticeable bricking, big and full bodied but still soft and plush with gobs of fresh fruit. The wine maintained its intenstiy and laser focus all the way through the 30 second finish. This wine still has the stuffing to improve at least another year or two with tannins that are soft but certainly still assertive, I'll save my last bottle as long as I can, but I can't make any promises as it is absolutely singing right now. 95 pts.

Definitely one of the greatest Insignias ever made.

Thanks for the TN, Dunder. Like you, I have one bottle left. It will be a special occasion when I open it up.

Cheers,

Otis

Board-O, are you saying you Drabbed the wine!

Not intentionally.