Joseph Phelps Vineyards: 2001 Backus Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

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BLEND & GRAPE SOURCES:
100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the estate-owned Backus Vineyard in Oakville.

HARVEST DATE: Sept. 13 – 26, 2001.

WINEMAKING DATA:
Grapes were harvested at an average 24.5º Brix, fermented in stainless steel tanks, then aged 23 months in new French oak barrels before being bottled in February, 2004.

Our first Backus Cabernet Sauvignon was produced in 1977 from a 6.75 acre parcel leased from Marian Backus, and even then we believed this steeply-terraced hillside vineyard with its brick-red soil was capable of producing outstanding wines. Subsequent vintages, especially during the 90’s, confirmed our belief, and when the entire 45-acre parcel (which included 21.5 plantable acres) was offered for sale in 1996, we enthusiastically bought it.

Still, even we were unprepared for the extraordinary quality that has come out of this vineyard in the last few years. The wines have been magical, with none surpassing the 2001 vintage for its trademark flavors of chocolate, berry and mineral, its silky texture and, perhaps most distinctive, its powerful, sweet tannins.

2001 Vintage Notes

The 2001 vintage produced extremely balanced, concentrated and flavorful fruit with generous yields, despite a variable growing season usually associated with less successful years.

A warm spring resulted in early budbreak, followed by a few days of freezing temperatures which caused some detrimental frost in early April (a natural thinning!). Prior to flowering, record high temperatures in early May caused rapid vine growth, and maturation was further accelerated by heat spikes in early June. Finally, mild temperatures in July and August provided ideal growing and ripening conditions and allowed vines to recover from their growth spurt in the spring.

Harvest began at the beginning of September with Sauvignon Blanc. Some of the early-maturing red varieties were harvested on September 10th with fully developed flavors and tannins. The mild temperatures which followed allowed further hang time and flavor development for the later-maturing Cabernet Sauvignon, most of which was picked during the last week of September through the first week of October. The advent of hot, dry weather which maintained its grip through most of October afforded even the most stubborn vineyards a chance to ripen and produce some of their best fruit since 1997.

Robert M. Parker Jr's, The Wine Advocate, 8-31-02

This is a superlative vintage in the North Coast. A cool (but not excessively so) growing season was followed by fabulous weather in September and October, allowing producers to harvest at their leisure. Crop size was reasonably good and my tastings revealed the finest young California Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot I have ever tasted. The wines possess extraordinary ripeness as well as sweet tannin, high glycerin and alcohol levels, and astonishing balance.

The Wine Advocate, 12-23-03

While the dense powerful, backward 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Backus Vineyard reveals abundant quantities of jammy black currant fruit, loads of tannin, and impressive structure as well as definition . . . give it 4–5 years of cellaring; it should age for two decades. — 93