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Premiere Napa Valley Wine Detail

Wine Details

Joseph Phelps Vineyards
2014 Cabernet Sauvignon
"Backus Vineyard"

Joseph Phelps Vineyards

2014 Cabernet Sauvignon
"Backus Vineyard"
Oakville AVA


2016 Offering
Premiere Napa Valley
Auction 20 | Lot No. 87
Vintage: 2014

Joseph Phelps Vineyards

Cabernet Sauvignon
Oakville

5 cases produced

Highlights

  • Unique blend of select lots from the Joseph Phelps Backus Vineyard in eastern Oakville
  • 92% Cabernet Sauvignon from the vines surrounding the smokehouse and steeply sloped South block
  • 5% Malbec and 3% Petit Verdot from the Plateau block, some 500 feet above the valley floor
  • 24 months of aging in a new Taransaud 5 French oak barrel

Description

This rare expression of Napa Valley winemaking is one of only 60 bottles that will ever be made. Think of it as a bit of Napa Valley history in your cellar and celebrated in a glass with friends and family.
Your Premiere Napa Valley wine is a unique blend of select lots from the Joseph Phelps Backus Vineyard in eastern Oakville. It is compirsed of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon from the vines surrounding the steeply sloped South Block, 5% Malbec and 3% Petit Verdot from the Plateau Block that is some 500 feet above the valley floor. The wine will age in a new Taransaud 5 French oak barrel for 24 months. The 2014 vintage highlights classic Oakville black fruit and graphite aromatics with powerful tannin structure and complexity for long-term aging potential.


Wine Facts

  • Wine is unfiltered
  • Single vineyard wine
  • Sustainably produced
  • Wine is 100% estate grown and bottled

Ashley Hepworth

Winemaker, Joseph Phelps Vineyards

Winemaker, Ashley Hepworth

Ashley Hepworth came to Joseph Phelps Vineyards in 1999 with a palate honed by working in restaurant kitchens, including the celebrated Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago. The experience also exposed Ashley to wine – she became friendly with Charlie Trotter’s sommeliers – and ultimately led her to apply for a harvest intern position at Joseph Phelps Vineyards. She got the job, and after working the harvest of 1999 she stayed on as a cellar worker, a “from the ground up experience” she says she wouldn’t trade for anything. From there Ashley went on to positions at the winery as a lab technician and enologist, and in 2004 she was named associate winemaker, overseeing all day-to-day winemaking operations.

In 2005 Ashley had the opportunity to expand her winemaking horizons when she took a “mini” sabbatical to work a harvest in Bordeaux at Chateau Angelus in St. Emilion. She earned a Winemaking Certificate from the Viticulture and Enology Department at the University of California at Davis in 2006, and in 2008 she was promoted to winemaker at Joseph Phelps Vineyards.

“I’ve been fortunate to work with some great winemakers at Joseph Phelps, and I’ve learned a lot from each one of them,” says Ashley, who credits the winery’s founder, Joe Phelps, with establishing the overall philosophical approach which guides the winery today. “He always pushed the winemaking team to explore, to do better. There was no limit. He always said ‘don’t stop at good, make it great.’ Even though he’s gone, we have a team that understands that really well.”

Ashley’s approach to winemaking at Joseph Phelps is deceptively simple: let the vineyards and the vintages speak for themselves. “Our estate vineyards give me such quality and purity of fruit,” she says. “There’s a consistency to our wines, but it’s not because of a recipe, it’s because the vineyards are so solid.” Still, Ashley is very much in favor of vintage expression. “We don’t want every vintage to taste the same.”

Country born: United States

Education: B.S. in Biology and a minor in Chemistry at Fort Lewis College, a Winemaking Certificate from the Viticulture and Enology Department at the University of California at Davis and worked the 2005 harvest at Chateau Angelus, St. Emilion.

Years in the wine industry: 20-30 years

Winemaking Philosophy:
Minimalism - allow what the vineyard offers to reflect in the wine.

Wine On The Way

805A S. Orlando Avenue
Winter Park FL 32789
407-733-9463


Other Premiere Napa Valley Wines available from Wine On The Way:

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Hertelendy Vineyards 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Luxe 25 (2021)
Ovid. Napa Valley 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley MMXIX 25 (2021)
Arrow&Branch 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville Vine Hill Ranch 24 (2020)
Hertelendy Vineyards 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Chef d'Oeuvre 24 (2020)
Etude 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 23 (2019)
Hertelendy Vineyards 2017 Red Wine Napa Valley Arose 23 (2019)
Arrow&Branch 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon St. Helena Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard 22 (2018)
Boeschen Vineyards 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon St. Helena Gullwing Amalgam 22 (2018)
Boich Family Cellar 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Proprietor’s Barrel 22 (2018)
Chateau Boswell Winery 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Focus on the Sublime 21 (2017)
JAX Vineyards 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Calistoga Estate Block 3 21 (2017)
Jones Family Vineyards 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Calistoga Two Decades 21 (2017)
Cakebread Cellars 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 20 (2016)
Joseph Phelps Vineyards 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville Backus Vineyard 20 (2016)
Paul Hobbs 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Coombsville Nathan Coombs Estate, Block 5 20 (2016)
TOR Kenward Family Wines 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville The Magic 20 (2016)
Alpha Omega 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Dr. To Kalon 19 (2015)
Anomaly Vineyards 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon St. Helena 19 (2015)
Larkmead Vineyards 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Three Centuries 19 (2015)
Seavey Vineyard 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 19 (2015)
BRAND Napa Valley 2012 Red Wine Napa Valley Double Horseshoes 18 (2014)
Stone The Crows 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon St. Helena 18 (2014)

Winery Distribution

Joseph Phelps Vineyards is distributed in the following markets. Please contact the winery directly for the most up-to-date distribution information and to explore commercial opportunities.