Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2004 St. Eden seems to hit all the sweet spots on my palate. A wine of great complexity, richness, and intensity, with oodles of creme de cassis fruit and plenty of roasted herbs and meatiness, with exceptional power and richness, this wine has fleshed out since I had it last year, and seems to be destined to be one of Bond's most compelling wines, a full-bodied wine with great purity, richness, and beautifully integrated acidity, wood, and tannin. Give it 1-3 years of bottle age and drink it over the following 25 years.
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Wine Enthusiast
Brilliant aromatics here, just stupendously attractive. Among the sweetest and most approachable of Harlan's current stable, it's also complex and ageworthy. Fairly tannic now, with a refined sandpapery grittiness coating pure flavors of ripe cherries, plums and blackberries and their associated liqueurs. The finish is so long, balanced and harmonious.
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Wine Spectator
Superripe yet supple and balanced, with deep, enticing blackberry, ripe plum and wild berry fruit that's rich and concentrated, with a long, persistent finish. The tannins are firm and structured.
Undoubtedly proving its merit over and over, Napa Valley is a now a leading force in the world of prestigious red wine regions. Though Cabernet Sauvignon dominates Napa Valley, other red varieties certainly thrive here. Important but often overlooked include Merlot and other Bordeaux varieties well-regarded on their own as well as for their blending capacities. Very old vine Zinfandel represents an important historical stronghold for the region and Pinot noir is produced in the cooler southern parts, close to the San Pablo Bay.
Perfectly situated running north to south, the valley acts as a corridor, pulling cool, moist air up from the San Pablo Bay in the evenings during the hot days of the growing season, which leads to even and slow grape ripening. Furthermore the valley claims over 100 soil variations including layers of volcanic, gravel, sand and silt—a combination excellent for world-class red wine production.