Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The 1998 displays a dark garnet color as well as notes of leafy tobacco, underbrush, black cherries and black currants. An elegant, mid-weight Insignia with sweet fruit, ripe tannin and interesting cedar, licorice and spice characteristics, it is fully mature and is unlikely to get any better. Enjoy it over the next 7-8 years. (RP)

(11/2013)

Wine Spectator

Mature, rich and concentrated, this is pleasantly earthy, with mineral-laced currant, dried berry, anise and sage flavors that are complex, balanced and supported by firm, dry tannins. (JL, Web Only-2009)

Vinous

Good dark red. Complex scents of redcurrant, plum, dusty herbs and spicebox, plus a note of fennel and a suggestion of salami meatiness. Nicely sweet but tightly wound, even a bit clenched on the back end, with a licorice element providing lift. A distinct minty note serves to brighten the middle palate without overshadowing the wine's plum, spice and cedar flavors. This wine showed a slight canned-vegetable aspect early on but no longer. À point. (ST)

(05/2016)