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California Wine Atlas

Joseph Phelps

Sub-AVA · St. Helena

Further reading: Producer's own site

verified · TTB List of Permittees

Editorial profile

Joseph Phelps Vineyards was established in St. Helena in 1973–1974, and in 1974 the winery had the idea that would define it: a unique proprietary red blend made each vintage, released as Insignia — one of California's earliest Bordeaux-style blends released under its own name rather than a varietal label. Cabernet Sauvignon and the Insignia blend remain the core of the Napa Valley estate program, joined by single-vineyard bottlings such as Backus Vineyard, predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon with blocks of Petit Verdot and Malbec.

Under the Freestone Vineyards label, the same house farms cooler sites on the western Sonoma Coast for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, including single-block Proem and Quarter Moon Vineyard bottlings, alongside a Rhône-inspired program (Syrah, Vin du Mistral, Viognier) and a Sauvignon Blanc. The estate also produces Ovation, a Chardonnay–Pinot Noir sparkling wine from the Pastorale Vineyard.

Facts read from josephphelps.com

What's on file

Address

200 TAPLIN RD

Where it's registered

This boundaryClick to open

Hovering a shaded region names it; a click opens its page.

  • Principal200 TAPLIN RD, SAINT HELENA
  • Also bonded1625 FREESTONE FLAT RD, FREESTONE · Russian River Valley

The ground it sits on

Sub-AVA · St. Helena

6.3

pH, 1:1 water

16.8cm

, whole profile

155cm

to

Well drained

, dominant condition

Distribution across 41 · mean ◆, median │, p10–p90 bar

6.3
5.0%
21.0%
available water
16.8cm
depth to restriction
155cm

Dominant

  • 22.4%
  • 22.0%
  • 16.8%
  • 11.4%
  • 5.9%

41 map units · soil described over 97.9% of the region’s area · 3.8% is water, rock outcrop or other non-soil · 37% of the described area has a restrictive layer within the profile.

Wines

16 of 16 wines link to the page they were read from. The list is what a producer publishes about itself, one citation at a time — it is not a catalog, and a wine missing from it is uncurated rather than unmade.