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2016 Harlan Estate, 375ml

WA 100

JD 100

VN 98+

Not Currently In Auction

Estimate

RATINGS

100The Wine Advocate

...comes charging out of the glass, brandishing bold, opulent blackberry pie, warm cassis and blueberry preserves notes with hints of cigar box, Indian spices, crushed rocks and forest floor plus fragrant accents of lavender and black tea. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is built like a brick house, with a solid line of super ripe, grainy tannins and oodles of freshness supporting the layer upon layer of savory and earth-inspired notions, finishing on a lingering mineral note...

100Jeb Dunnuck

...they’ve made a perfect wine. Sporting a deep purple hue as well as extraordinary notes of crème de cassis, blackcurrants, herbes de Provence, tobacco, graphite, and a who knows what else, this beauty hits the palate with a deep, powerful, full-bodied style that has enough structure to warrant a decade of cellaring. The purity is off the charts, it builds incrementally on the palate, and has a finish that won’t quit...

98+ Vinous / IWC

A wine of tremendous breeding and pure stature, the 2016 Harlan Estate reaches dizzying heights of profound beauty. All the elements simply fall into place in an effortless, elegant Harlan Estate that really captures the essence of the year. Sweet tobacco, spice, menthol and mocha overtones give the 2016 beguiling aromatic presence to match its layered, sumptuous personality...

PRODUCER

Harlan Estate

Founded in 1984 in the western hills of Oakville, Napa Valley, Harlan Estate is one of the fabled “Cult Cabs” that came of age in the 1990s. Along with such Cult Cabs as Screaming Eagle, Abreu, Araujo and Colgin, Harlan helped set the bar for extremely rich, complex and hard-to-acquire California Cabs. Harlan Estate founder William Harlan has said that part of his mission in founding the winery was “to create a first growth of California.” Robert M. Parker Jr. has written that Harlan wines possess “all the elements of greatness – individuality, power combined with elegance, extraordinary complexity, remarkable aging potential and compelling richness without ponderousness.” The estate’s 36 acres of vineyards are planted in Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. About 1,800 to 2,000 cases of Harlan Estate are produced annually. Also produced annually are 10,000 bottles of The Maiden, a Cabernet Sauvignon.

REGION

United States, California, Napa Valley

Napa Valley AVA is the most famous winemaking region in the United States and one of the most prestigious in the world. With nearly 43,000 acres of vineyards and more than 300 wineries, it is the heart of fine wine production in the United States. Winemaking started in Napa in 1838 when George C. Yount planted grapes and began producing wine commercially. Other winemaking pioneers followed in the late 19th century, including the founders of Charles Krug, Schramsberg, Inglenook and Beaulieu Vineyards. An infestation of phylloxera, an insect that attacks vine roots, and the onset of Prohibition nearly wiped out the nascent Napa wine industry in the early 20th century. But by the late 1950s and early 1960s Robert Mondavi and other visionaries were producing quality wines easily distinguishable from the mass-produced jug wines made in California’s Central Valley. Napa Valley’s AVA was established in 1983, and today there are 16 sub-appellations within the Napa Valley AVA. Many grapes grow well in Napa’s Mediterranean climate, but the region is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay is also very successfully cultivated, and about 30% of the AVA’s acreage is planted to white grapes, with the majority of those grapes being Chardonnay,