Harlan Estate
Napa Valley Proprietary Red Blend
Napa Valley, California, USA
Today was not a day I will soon forget. Getting to walk through Harlan Estate with the legendary Don Weaver is truly a highlight of my career (and life!). A kinder and more hospitable man does not exist, I’m sure of it.
To top off Don’s hospitality was having the 2017 and 2020 Vintages side-by-side. In a word: breathtaking. Both vintages are very emotional due to tremendous pressures felt from fires, the pandemic, and other factors. You can almost taste that tension in the wine. But the Masterful wine growers and wine makers at Harlan Estate were able to find harmony and balance with some help from Mother Nature with both vintages.
The 2017, having had some time in the bottle expresses more floral and aromatic notes of leather and asphalt. The pallet it is expressive, structured, and broad shouldered with herbaceous bay leaf and dark cherry flavors that find their way into parts of your pallet reserved just for things that taste so good you get chills. Undoubtedly a wine that will age gracefully over time.
The 2020, by contrast, was tasted out of the barrel. It already shows a tannin profile that is a hallmark of Harlan Estate; I can’t wait to drink it once it’s been in bottle for a few years; drink it to remember 2020, drink it to forget 2020? Either way, it will be representative of the special place that is Harlan Estate.
Grateful, grateful, grateful.
Today was not a day I will soon forget. Getting to walk through Harlan Estate with the legendary Don Weaver is truly a highlight of my career (and life!). A kinder and more hospitable man does not exist, I’m sure of it.
To top off Don’s hospitality was having the 2017 and 2020 Vintages side-by-side. In a word: breathtaking. Both vintages are very emotional due to tremendous pressures felt from fires, the pandemic, and other factors. You can almost taste that tension in the wine. But the Masterful wine growers and wine makers at Harlan Estate were able to find harmony and balance with some help from Mother Nature with both vintages.
The 2017, having had some time in the bottle expresses more floral and aromatic notes of leather and asphalt. The pallet it is expressive, structured, and broad shouldered with herbaceous bay leaf and dark cherry flavors that find their way into parts of your pallet reserved just for things that taste so good you get chills. Undoubtedly a wine that will age gracefully over time.
The 2020, by contrast, was tasted out of the barrel. It already shows a tannin profile that is a hallmark of Harlan Estate; I can’t wait to drink it once it’s been in bottle for a few years; drink it to remember 2020, drink it to forget 2020? Either way, it will be representative of the special place that is Harlan Estate.
Grateful, grateful, grateful.