Winemaker Notes
Deep, dark red in appearance. Complex nose offers high notes of black fruits, licorice, graphite, chocolate, espresso over truffle and earth, and the distinctive “forest floor” elements. Good composition, detail, concentration, and depth. Nice length, persistence and purity in the finish, but still relatively chunky in its youth. Look for this vintage to provide increasing finesse and pleasure over time. Wait 5 years and then drink for 10-15 years.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Another spectacular Harlan hits the market. It shows the earthy quality that marks wines off the estate, with an aroma suggesting a warm bale of hay under the summer sun, a sweet straw and bay laurel scent that adds savory richness to the cherry, blackberry and chocolate flavors. As usual, the tannins are virtual perfection, at once sweet and firm, dense and fine, perfectly in balance with all the fruit and new oak. So young now, a fat little baby of a wine that’s irresistible, but will hold and improve well beyond its tenth birthday.
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Wine Spectator
Intense, vibrant, firm and focused, with a touch of raciness to the concentrated mocha, blackberry and graphite. Extracted, chewy and firmly tannic, but with tight focus and persistence of flavor.--Non-blind Harlan retrospective (2010). Drink now through 2025. 1,827 cases made.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Very deep garnet-black colour with a purple rim. Comparably simpler, fruit-forward nose with aromas of blackberry and warm cassis plus a touch of star anise. Very big, ultra-full-bodied style of wine comes through on the palate, though the finely grained, firm tannins and decent backbone of medium to high acid remain a constant with this estate. Long, slightly hot finish. Drink now to 2020. Tasted November 2008.
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.