Joseph Phelps Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville Backus Vineyard 2004

The 2004 Joseph Phelps Insignia is a vintage marked by change. For example, this is the first vintage of Insignia being produced from 100% estate grown grapes. Estate grown wines tend to be of higher quality because the growers and winemakers work

You have to count this as another great Insignia, dry and complex and ageworthy, although the tannins are fierce now, and it may lack just a bit of the glamor of, say, the 2004 or 2001. It's certainly a big wine that floods the mouth with blackberry, black currant, cassis and new oak flavors. The tannins and acids make it aloof, resistant, tough. It wants time in the cellar. Best after 2013. Production was a hefty 13,500 cases.

The 2002 Insignia is a blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot, 7% Petit Verdot, and 1% Malbec. This wine has put on considerable weight since last year. An exotic nose of spice box, soy, creme de cassis, chocolate, espresso, and various spices is followed by extravagant fruit on the attack, a voluptuous, medium to full-bodied palate, and a long, ripe, concentrated finish with the tannins well-concealed behind significant glycerin and concentration. This beauty is more extroverted than the 2001. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2023.

A worthy successor to the stunning '94, this is dark and ripe, with exotic aromas and flavors - dense, earthy currant, black cherry, wild berry and plum with a cedary oak edge. Well-integrated tannins and pretty fruit flavors provide elegance. This renowned Cabernet blend is young and tight, will benefit from up to a decade of aging. Best from 2002 through 2010.

Wine Spectator ReviewTight and complex, with a deep, potent core of ripe currant, herb, sage and dusty berry fruit, shaded by light toasty, cedary oak. Deftly balanced, intense and concentrated, this is young and closed in now, yet you can taste the depth and richness. Tannic. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Malbec. Best from 2010 through 2020.

Tasted in October, 2007, the wine was mute, offering little aromatically except for teasing notes of blackberries and oak. That shyness extended to the taste, where strong, hard tannins provide an almost impenetrable coat of armor to whatandrsquo;s inside. But right down the middle of the palate is a deep, intensely powerful stream of perfectly ripened cassis thatandrsquo;s all the proof you need of ageability. This is a magnificently structured young wine, reminiscent of a fine young Pauillac. Best after 2012, and should have another decade after that, at least.

Good medium ruby color. Black raspberry, minerals, cocoa and coffee on the nose. Sweet, dense and penetrating; ripe but not at all over the top. The dark berry flavors are complicated by chocolate and minerals. A very lush wine with lovely vibrancy. Finishes with sweet tannins that spread out to saturate the entire palate. Looks like another very strong vintage for this wineryandrsquo;s flagship red wine.