Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
Intense aromas of black pepper, blueberry, blackberry, tar, and black licorice. Full bodied, with amazing length and a toned muscular character. This lasts for minutes. Like a world class ballerina. It is held back and beautiful. Please leave this alone until 2015!
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2006 Harlan Estate has turned out better than I originally predicted. Its dense ruby/purple color is followed by classic aromas of creme de cassis, melted licorice, smoked meats, burning embers, and graphite. It has thrown off some of the tannic clout it displayed last year, revealing great balance. A candidate for “wine of the vintage,” this dense, full-bodied effort has 25+ years of life ahead of it. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2035.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Here's a big, flashy, cult-style wine if ever there was one. It offers masses of blackberries, black currants, coffee, spices and new oak. Vastly rich, it defines the Harlan Estate style, although, in this vintage, perhaps not quite at its highest expression. Nonetheless the wine is fat and unctuous and immediately drinkable, thanks to refined tannins. Yet it should age effortlessly through 2018.
-
Wine Spectator
Tight and complex, with a dry, earthy mineral edge to the red currant and black cherry fruit, but this slowly unwinds, revealing greater depth and concentration and ending with a long, persistent finish. Quite tannic, but the flavors push through on the finish. Best from 2012 through 2020. 2,119 cases made.
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.