2013 Joseph Phelps Insignia 40th Anniversary Vintage Napa Valley 750 ml

Phelps “Insignia” — First Growth on 46th Street

In 1973, Napa Valley wineries were focused on producing wines that mimicked the angular structure of Bordeaux’s First Growths. Yet, curiously, few had experimented with blending Bordeaux varieties. That fall, as pickers plucked Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc in the finest harvest of the 1970s, Joseph Phelps was already imagining a unique assemblage.

Drawn from the very best barrels in the cellar, Phelps “Insignia” has joined Opus One as America’s most iconic Cabernet-dominated Bordeaux blend over the last 40 years. Robert Parker was first to jump on the “Insignia” bandwagon, posting three 100-point reviews in The Wine Advocate. With the 2002 vintage, Wine Spectator hopped on board, naming “Insignia” the magazine’s Wine of the Year in 2005.

Recently Parker wrote that “Insignia” “remains one of the world’s finest Cabernet Sauvignon-dominated blends.” Accordingly, Parker gives the same attention to Phelps’ flagship blend as he does to Pauillac’s First Growths — Lafite-Rothschild, Mouton-Rothschild, and Château Latour. Prior to bottling, Parker has tasted, reviewed, and rated 24 vintages of “Insignia,” only three of which have earned 100-point mentions from barrel. The first was the stunning 2007, the second the voluptuous 2012. The third is the still-richer, denser, and more complex 2013, a bottle that brought the world’s most influential critic to his knees.

Our relationship with the Phelps family dates back to the early 1990s, when we helped launch the 1994 vintage in N.Y.C. Our first appointment was at Sparks Steak House on East 46th. We ordered New York strips, decanted the 1994 “Insignia,” and watched Pat Cetta work the room like Bogart’s “Rick” in Casablanca. When Cetta finally took a seat at our table, beads of sweat dripped down behind his thick-rimmed glasses. (Bogart had nothing on Cetta!) Pat swirled three ounces of the 1994 “Insignia” in his oversized Bordeaux glass, then knocked it back.

“I’ll take a hundred, guys,” Pat said. “This is Napa’s first First Growth. I’m putting it on the list right under Lafite and just above Mouton.”

A hundred bottles? Cetta ordered by the case, not the bottle. Since when is 100 evenly divisible by 12? “Pat, you want a hundred bottles?”

“What am I going to do with a hundred BOTTLES?!” Cetta bellowed, surprising the suits at the next table. “Send me a hundred CASES! Got any big bottles?”

It’s in recognition of what we’re told was the largest order ever placed by a restaurateur that our friends at Phelps have offered our membership first crack at the 2013 “Insignia” “40th Anniversary” — what many are already suggesting is not only the greatest but also the most age-worthy “Insignia” ever made.

Release date is September 1st. 200 bottles have been allocated to WineAccess at $199 each. Shipping included on all orders.