Wine Advocate
par Robert Parker le 30/11/2013
This deep ruby/purple-colored offering is an elegant, medium-weight wine with sweet red and black currant fruit, dark cherry, loamy soil and foresty characteristics as well as ripe tannin. This should be an early maturing Insignia that evolves quickly, but positively over the next 10-12 years.
The production of the 2009 Insignia dropped considerably from previous years as only 10,540 cases were produced. All from estate fruit, the final blend was 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Petit Verdot and 4% Malbec (another year where no Merlot was used). The alcohol came in at 14.5%. The weather was moist and damp in May which also saw some huge heat spikes. Fortunately, June and July cooled down, August was average, and September experienced above average warmth. Statistically, it was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit for 19 days during the growing season, almost all of them occurring in August and September – never a good sign as it tends to stress and/or raisin and burn the grapes, particularly if there has been considerable crop-thinning. A major rain event (over 4 inches) occurred on October 13, so any producer who harvested after that date was negatively affected.