WTN: Family Insignia

[David M. Bueker]

• 2003 Joseph Phelps Insignia - USA, California, Napa Valley (1/18/2026)
  From my late father’s cellar, this bottle had the single worst cork I have come across. It defeated all attempts to extract it, including with the Durand. I was left to using a fine mesh filter to get rid of the cork particles. The wine was not affected so far as I could tell. It was a fairly typical early 2000s Insignia, with plummy fruit, and a touch of secondary aromatic development. Tannins were almost undetectable. It did work well with our beef stew, but in its own I would say it was good wine that was largely uninteresting.

Wow, even the crumbliest Port corks I've encountered succumb to a Durand. Looks like a job for Port tongs.

-Paul W.

[David M. Bueker]

I am still finding cork bits all over the place.

[Jenise]

I love the mintiness that good bottles of Insignia can have. Too bad that was disappointing, but hey--2003.

but hey--2003.

Always a crap shoot with extended ageing but I've had good luck with Insignias. I have a couple in the 90s and one in the 80s - time we did an Old Americans lunch, I think!

David, I have a tool that is basically a wire with two small cylindrical metal bits a few inches apart, with a T handle at the top. Very useful for hooking on the bottom of corks or partial corks and slowly pulling the large bit up and out. I don't know what they are called - maybe Jenise does?

[Jenise]

Bill, that device you speak of, you may remember that we used it on my Newlan pinot last month whose cork did exactly what David describes, and unfortunately it didn't help. Some corks are just beyond help!

[David M. Bueker]

Yeah, this cork was beyond all best efforts. I have become quite adept at removing the most difficult corks, including one from an 1860s Port, but this cork was structurally deficient. Nothing was going to work.