Joseph Phelps Vineyards

Guests at Founder’s Tastings enjoy Insignia Bordeaux-style blend in bucolic splendor.

Few wineries transport guests to the serenity and unrestrained beauty that Joseph Phelps Vineyards does, an experience that begins before the first sip of the famous Cabernets and Insignia Bordeaux-style blend. As visitors pass under a wood-framed breezeway for a Founder’s Tasting, the terrace view reveals undulating rows of grapevines, robust oaks, and, to the west across the valley, the Mayacamas Mountains. The scene is as timelessly bucolic as the line-drawing depiction that graced Joseph Phelps labels in the 1970s and 1980s and still does on a few to this day.

Singular Design

Then running a successful construction business, the late Joseph Phelps purchased a cattle ranch in St. Helena, planted grapes, and founded his winery in 1973. To design the production facility, Phelps hired John Marsh Davis, an early practitioner of a distinct Northern California architectural style emphasizing harmony between indoors and outdoors. Production moved away from the Davis structure some time ago. Renovations completed in 2015 respected the original design while adding grand and intimate spaces for tasting and wine education.

All about Insignia

Joseph Phelps Vineyards, purchased in 2022 by LVMH Moët Hennessy, built its reputation on consistently superior Cabernet Sauvignon and Insignia, California’s first proprietary Bordeaux-style wine of its type. Since the late 1980s, Insignia has been Cabernet-dominant, though the amount of that grape varies by vintage. Over the past two decades, the varietal has made up from two-thirds to 95% of the blend, with Merlot and Petit Verdot often present in significant amounts, and Malbec and Cabernet Franc to a lesser degree, or not at all. Wine Spectator magazine named Insignia its Wine of the Year in the early 2000s, and critics continue to praise the blend.

Whites, Syrah, and Pinot

The winery’s whites include Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Scheurebe, and Viognier, along with Ovation, a sparkling wine, and Delice, a late-harvest ice wine from Scheurebe grapes. Joseph Phelps was a fan of Viognier and other Rhône varieties; his 1974 Syrah marked the first commercial American release of a wine made from that red grape.  In recent years, the winery has produced a Syrah from a prestigious Carneros vineyard. The Chardonnays come from Phelps-owned vineyards in the cooler Sonoma Coast appellation, as do the Pinot Noirs.

Guided Experiences

Well-trained educators lead the guided experiences at Joseph Phelps. The signature Founder’s Tasting of current releases, sipped on a west-facing terrace with vineyard and mountain views, usually begins with one or two whites, then moves to Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Insignia. Curated wine-and-food pairings and private collector’s tastings of the finest wines are also popular.

Why go:  legendary winery; terrace views; consistently superior Cabernet Sauvignon; Insignia blend.

Itinerary

Joseph Phelps Vineyards appears in 10 Foolproof Napa Valley Cabernet Tasting Experiences.

Info

200 Taplin Rd., St. Helena 94574

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This story originally appeared online in 2017; it was most recently updated in 2026.