Backus Vineyard
2014 Cabernet Sauvignon
Oakville
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.
Winemaker, Joseph Phelps Vineyards
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.
805A S. Orlando Avenue
Winter Park FL 32789
407-733-9463
Premiere Napa Valley Wine Collection
Winery | Vintage | Variety | Appellation | Fanciful | Auction |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hertelendy Vineyards | 2019 | Cabernet Sauvignon | Napa Valley | Luxe | 25 |
Ovid. Napa Valley | 2019 | Cabernet Sauvignon | Napa Valley | MMXIX | 25 |
Arrow&Branch | 2018 | Cabernet Sauvignon | Oakville | Vine Hill Ranch | 24 |
Hertelendy Vineyards | 2018 | Cabernet Sauvignon | Napa Valley | Chef d'Oeuvre | 24 |
Etude | 2017 | Cabernet Sauvignon | Napa Valley | 23 | |
Hertelendy Vineyards | 2017 | Red Wine | Napa Valley | Arose | 23 |
Arrow&Branch | 2016 | Cabernet Sauvignon | St. Helena | Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard | 22 |
Boeschen Vineyards Napa Green Winery | 2016 | Cabernet Sauvignon | St. Helena | Gullwing Amalgam | 22 |
Boich Family Cellar | 2016 | Cabernet Sauvignon | Napa Valley | Proprietor’s Barrel | 22 |
Chateau Boswell Winery Napa Green Winery | 2015 | Cabernet Sauvignon | Napa Valley | Focus on the Sublime | 21 |
JAX Vineyards | 2015 | Cabernet Sauvignon | Calistoga | Estate Block 3 | 21 |
Jones Family Vineyards | 2015 | Cabernet Sauvignon | Calistoga | Two Decades | 21 |
Cakebread Cellars Napa Green Winery | 2014 | Cabernet Sauvignon | Napa Valley | 20 | |
Joseph Phelps Vineyards | 2014 | Cabernet Sauvignon | Oakville | Backus Vineyard | 20 |
Paul Hobbs | 2014 | Cabernet Sauvignon | Coombsville | Nathan Coombs Estate, Block 5 | 20 |
TOR Kenward Family Wines | 2014 | Cabernet Sauvignon | Oakville | The Magic | 20 |
Alpha Omega | 2013 | Cabernet Sauvignon | Napa Valley | Dr. To Kalon | 19 |
Anomaly Vineyards | 2013 | Cabernet Sauvignon | St. Helena | 19 | |
Larkmead Vineyards | 2013 | Cabernet Sauvignon | Napa Valley | Three Centuries | 19 |
Seavey Vineyard | 2013 | Cabernet Sauvignon | Napa Valley | 19 | |
BRAND Napa Valley | 2012 | Red Wine | Napa Valley | Double Horseshoes | 18 |
Stone The Crows | 2012 | Cabernet Sauvignon | St. Helena | 18 |
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