Joseph Phelps - Wines & Spirits

IdentityJoseph Phelps

The story of Joseph Phelps Vineyards began fifty years ago when Joe Phelps, a construction magnate and home winemaker, founded his eponymous winery in the then undiscovered wilds of Napa Valley in 1973. A pioneering spirit and continued quest for excellence guided the winery’s path to purchase vineyard land in key areas of Napa Valley, and later the western Sonoma Coast. Today, Joseph Phelps Vineyards and its flagship wine Insignia uphold a legacy of extraordinary quality.

The Joseph Phelps winery in Napa Valley designed by architect John Marsh Davis

2023
FIRST FIFTY YEARS
525
PLANTED ACRES
1974
FIRST INSIGNIA

Joseph Phelps trellis entry © Matt Morris

ICON

It began with a vision. In the early 1970s, Napa Valley was a sleepy agricultural town on the brink of a fine-wine awakening. Drawing on his construction experience, Joseph Phelps set about establishing the building blocks of winemaking excellence. Joseph Phelps was a builder of buildings, a builder of people, and a builder of dreams.

SAVOIR-FAIRE

It began with a vision. A belief in the possibility of something bigger and better – something that didn’t quite exist yet. In the early 1970s, Napa Valley was a sleepy agricultural town on the brink of a fine-wine awakening. Drawing on his construction experience, Joe set about establishing the building blocks of winemaking excellence. In 1974, he had the idea to make a unique blend each year, one that would represent the finest wine he could make from each vintage. His only thought was to make one wine that represented the best of Joseph Phelps Vineyards. Today, Insignia is widely regarded as a qualitative benchmark for California winemaking that has earned Joseph Phelps its longstanding reputation for excellence.

Insignia, iconic cuvée of Joseph Phelps © Briana Marie Photography

STYLE & RANGE

Joe Phelps built the winery’s early reputation on Cabernet Sauvignon and Rhône-style bottles, but his winemaking ambitions did not rest there. Today, the portfolio includes both Napa Valley and Sonoma Coast vineyards allowing our winemakers to explore the finest of each region.

OUR EXCEPTIONAL TALENTS

I’m a Riddler-Cellar Worker at Maison Ruinart. My job is to move the champagne bottles after fermentation to gently push the sediment to the neck of the bottle so it can be removed from the bottle, or disgorged. This is actually more complicated than it sounds, because although most of the sediment goes down when you turn the bottle, some of it, the “light sediment” remains stuck to the sides. So what I do is turn the bottles to release this “light sediment” and eject it. To do this I have to “read” the champagne by candlelight, inspecting the bottles closely to determine where the sediment is and how they need to be rotated. This bottle turning, known as “riddling”, is mainly done by hand, but can also be automated. I test all the cuvées and different types of bottles to program the riddling to be done by machine.

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Joseph Phelps is npart of Moët Hennessy

Moët Hennessy is the Wines & Spirits division of LVMH, owning renowned wine estates through "LVMH Vins d'Exceptions". With its twenty seven internationally renowned Maisons for the richness of their terroirs, the quality of their products and the craftsmanship savoir-faire with which they are created, Moët Hennessy has been committed, for many years, to its environmental and social program, Living Soils Living Together.Drink responsibly.

IdentityJoseph Phelps

2023

525

1974

Visuals representative of Joseph Phelps campaigns, products, and identity