Harlan Estate, Napa Valley

Sommelier’s Diaries

The Napa Valley
by Ronan Sayburn MS
Part 4

Our Head of Wine, Ronan Sayburn MS, is sharing with you his discoveries and tasting notes about his exciting trip in the Napa Valley

Something special about the Harlan Estate

“Harlan Estate has an understated feeling about it, considered to be without a doubt of First Growth quality in Napa Valley. It is not signposted and when you eventually arrive a closed, unmarked, grey gate magically slides open; but only if you have been invited.

Founded in 1984 by H. William Harlan, a real estate developer and Napa Valley resort owner, who purchased a 97 ha property, a forested area, with steep hillsides, multiple elevations and exposures, west of Martha’s Vineyard in Oakville, and proceeded to clear 16 ha for vineyards.

They are all on slopes, located on both volcanic and sedimentary bedrock; a combination of terraced vineyards and closely spaced vines on soils over fractured rock and with 360º of exposition.

They produce two wines, Harlan – the grand vin and a second wine The Maiden. Although they never declare the exact varietal percentages the wine follows a classic Médoc formula of approximately Cabernet Sauvignon (70%), Merlot (20%), Cabernet Franc (8%), and Petit Verdot (2%)”.

The work behind the quality

“Napa Valley grandee and long-term estate manager Don Weaver (and 67 PM member) showed me around the elegant dark basalt tasting room and winery.

The grapes are handpicked at night, destemmed and after several manual sortings are fermented without crushing as whole berries and with no pre-ferment cold soaking. After ferment, the free run juice is run off into barrels of which 80% is new French oak. The press wine is sold off to undisclosed buyers who will use it as part of a blend.

We tasted 2011, 2014 and 2015. All three were stunning and showed the characteristic excellence and refinement to be expected from a first growth wine – very fine blackcurrant fruit, seamlessly woven with new oak vanilla, with 2011 starting to show slight tertiary cedar wood and tobacco aromas. The fine-grained tannins and fresh acidity were perfectly balanced. An absolute pleasure to taste”.