Opened last night on a lark…popped and poured.
No detectable nose of anything, so pretty much DOA. Nothing on the palate other than a little burnt sugar and oak. Just goes to show that even a top tier winery can have a bad run during a somewhat questionable vintage. Maybe this was good five years ago.
Four actually . . . but its not like it was that good. We used it as a ringer in a 12 wine lineup of all Bordeaux. It placed 8th. Nobody mistook for California but nobody really thought it fantastic either.
Probably one of the weakest vintages of Insignia in the last 20 years. 1998 was right after the winter 97 / spring 98 crazy El Nino rains that flooded most of Northern California. The first ever bottle of Insignia I had was a 98 and at the time (nearly 4 years ago) I thought it was great but I’ve had many others since then which have brought me around to seeing how great in can be in a good year. (94, 97 come to mind)
Interestingly enough, it is predicted that we’ll have another of those crazy El Nino winters this year.
Definitely not a “great” Insignia and I think I killed my lone bottle (procured for $50ish) back in 2003. Certainly drinking well back then but it didn’t seem to have the bones to be a long term ager.
Unfortunately, this is my only go at this vintage…so cannot comment on how it showed in its youth. I have had a couple of '98 bottles from other producers that were at least OK.
I thought it was OK like 4 years ago. I mean for 1998 there were some good wines made, they are just for early drinking. I had several bottles and served it to out-of-town guests who really enjoyed it. Lots of oak, but plenty of dark fruit and chocolate flavors to keep that in check.
I bought a couple on closeout from SW&S for about $45.00 and drank them 03-04. Not a bad bottle but no great shakes. I find it hard to believe it was gone though. Such is life. Glad you aren’t toting it to Napa Tex.
Bummer-tough vintage to be sure. But I’ve had some good '98s like Montelena, Araujo and Harlan, just not up to the same levels as other years.
Bill
Interesting note. I had this wine as part of a tasting of almost every vintage of Insignia a few years ago, and the '98 was one of the weakest wines of the night (the '00 wasn’t much better). The '74 (the first vintage) was spectacular and WOTN. In fact, many of the older vintages showed very well.
Dave
My notes from the '98 and '00 are included below:
Posted from CellarTracker
Dave, your note is being generous compared to what I had.
Ki, the '98 Araujo was indeed a very good wine for the vintage.
I had a 1998 Insignia about 5-6 years ago (I think it was $80 on a wine list) and I thought it was good wine then.
The only great (QPR) 1998 I ever really enjoyed was Rudd Jericho Canyon.