Above 45 bottles per lot
Details
HARLAN
Harlan, undoubtedly one of the premier estates in the Napa Valley, is the product of the finest ingredients. With a 240-acre mountainside estate overlooking Martha's Vineyard, only 30-acres meet the perfect conditions to be under vine. Of this selective area, winemaker Bob Levy and consultant Michel Rolland take less than two tons of grapes per acre of red Bordeaux varietals. Meticulous hand sorting methods done grape-by-grape make the wine one of the most labor intensive products of the wine world. The estate red is among the few California wines to truly garner "cult" status with limited production, famously long waits to join the mailing list, and above all, good juice. The estate's hallmark unctuously rich wines are even rarer when found in magnum.
Harlan Estate
Napa Valley
--Vintage 1990(1)
--Vintage 1991(1)
"This is a profoundly great wine. It came across in a blind tasting as one of the most remarkable wines there, with most tasters mistaking it for a first-growth Medoc. The wine revealed an opaque purple color, a fabulously complex, sweet nose of minerals, fruitcake, cedar, toasty new oak, and pure blackcurrant fruit. Although huge in the mouth, the wine is remarkably well-balanced, with its high tannin level well-concealed by copious quantities of sweet ripe fruit, as well as huge amounts of glycerin and extract. I have consistently rated the 1991 Harlan Estate in the mid to upper nineties, but in this blind tasting with so many high quality wines, it was a big-time winner. Approachable now, this wine should be at its best by the turn of the century and last for 2-3 decades." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #162 (February 1997)
--Vintage 1992(1)
"The newest release, the 1992, offers a dense purple color, and a splendid sweet nose of minerals, blackcurrants, toast, and spice. Opulent and rich, with full body, and well-integrated sweet tannin, this expansive yet graceful wine possesses layers of flavor that caress the palate. The wine is accessible, yet still youthful and unformed. It should drink well for 20+ years." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #108 (December 1996)
--Vintage 1993(1)
"The 1993 should be as prodigious as the 1992. It is an opaque purple-colored wine with spectacular ripeness, purity, and potential. Dense, full-bodied, with a chocolatey, toasty, mineral, and blackcurrant-scented nose, this wine has a rich, full-bodied, chewy texture nicely buttressed by ripe tannin. In addition, the wine reveals more noticeable tannin in the finish, particularly when it is compared to the 1992 or 1994. This is another 20-25 year wine." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #108 (December 1996)
--Vintage 1994(1)
"What can I say about the 1994? I have tasted the wine for three consecutive years, and each time it satisfied all of my requirements for perfection. The opaque purple color is followed by spectacular aromatics that soar from the glass, offering up celestial levels of black currants, minerals, smoked herbs, cedar wood, coffee, and pain grille. In the mouth, this seamless legend reveals full body, and exquisite layers of phenomenally pure and rich fruit, followed by a 40+ second finish. While accessible, the 1994 begs for another 5-7 years of cellaring. It should easily last for 30+ years. Every possible jagged edge - acidity, alcohol, tannin, and wood - is brilliantly intertwined in what seems like a diaphanous format. What is so extraordinary about this large-scaled wine, with its dazzling display of aromatics and prodigious flavors and depth, is that it offers no hint of heaviness or coarseness. Harlan's 1994 comes close to immortality in the glass." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #114 (December 1997)
--Vintage 1995(1)
"The 1995 Proprietary Red Wine is almost as perfect as the 1994. It has gotten even better in the bottle, and remains one of the most remarkable young Cabernet Sauvignons I have tasted. The wine, a blend of 85 Cabernet Sauvignon and 15 Merlot, was aged in 100 new oak, which adds subtle pain grille/toasty scents. This opaque purple-colored Cabernet offers up a nose of smoke, coffee beans, black and blue fruits, minerals, and roasted herbs. It is extremely full-bodied, with spectacular purity, exquisite equilibrium, and a seamless personality with everything in total harmony. The finish lasts for more than 40 seconds. This extravagantly rich, profoundly complex 1995 will give its 1994 sibling a run for its money. Anticipated maturity: 2001-2027." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #120 (December 1998)
--Vintage 1996(6)
"The opaque purple-colored 1996 Harlan Estate reveals extraordinary intensity, a spicy, black currant, tobacco, cedar, and fruit cake-scented bouquet, full body, a texture oozing with glycerin and concentrated fruit, and moderate tannin in the blockbuster finish. It is one of the most concentrated and complete red wines one could hope to taste. Anticipated maturity: 2004-2030." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #126 (January 2000)
--Vintage 1997(6)
"The 1997 Harlan Estate is one of the greatest Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines I have ever tasted. A blend of 80 Cabernet Sauvignon, with the rest Merlot and Cabernet Franc, this enormously-endowed, profoundly rich wine must be tasted to be believed. Opaque purple-colored, it boasts spectacular, soaring aromatics of vanilla, minerals, coffee, blackberries, licorice, and cassis. In the mouth, layer after layer unfold powerfully yet gently. Acidity, tannin, and alcohol are well-balanced by the wine's unreal richness and singular personality. The finish exceeds one minute. Anticipated maturity: 2001-2030." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #132 (December 2000)
--Vintage 1998(3)
"The 1998, which is a candidate for the "Wine of the Vintage," was produced from yields of 0.9 tons per acre. There are only 1,100 cases, and it is the first Harlan Estate to be composed of 100 Cabernet Sauvignon. A spectacular achievement, it boasts an opaque plum/purple color as well as a sumptuous nose of espresso, mineral, blueberry, blackberry, tobacco, licorice, asian spice, and roasted meat smells. In the mouth, it is seamless, full-bodied, with an unctuous texture, gorgeously sweet tannin, and layer upon layer of concentration. This is a tour de force in winemaking. It is hard to believe that a wine such as this has emerged from 1998." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #132 (December 2000)
--Vintage 1999(6)
"The 1999 Harlan Estate (1,700 cases) reveals moderately intense aromatics of sweet vanilla, menthol, espresso, chocolate, and cassis. The wine is medium to full-bodied, suave, and elegant. It is more restrained and not as intense as previous vintages, reflecting 1999's cool growing season. Nevertheless, this is still an outstanding wine. The finish is long, elegant, and Bordeaux-like. It is not as prodigious as the Harlans produced between 1991 and 1998. I would rank it behind all those wines. Anticipated maturity: now-2016." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #142 (August 2002)
--Vintage 2000(6)
"I have never been totally convinced by the 2000 Harlan Estate, but now that it's in bottle, it is a very fine offering. The problem is that it must be compared with the other Harlan Estate wines made to date. A Graves-like perfume of roasted coffee, scorched earth, black currants, cedar, and a hint of menthol emerge from this dense dark ruby/purple-colored 2000. Lighter than normal, but medium to full-bodied and elegant, with soft tannin as well as a silky, precocious personality and texture, it can be drunk now and over the next 12 years." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #150 (December 2003)
--Vintage 2001(6)
"Rivaling the 1994 and 1997, the 2001 Harlan Estate is a perfect wine for my palate. Tasted on four separate occasions, this offering, which spent 28 months in oak before being bottled unfined and unfiltered, is an extraordinary effort that comes across as a hypothetical blend of Mouton-Rothschild, La Mission-Haut-Brion, and Montrose. A synthesis in style between the more elegant, delineated, structured 1994, and the port-like, over-the-top, viscous 1997, this extraordinary 2001 was the "wine of my trip," even though I had already had it from bottle several months earlier. An inky/purple color is accompanied by a stupendous bouquet of lead pencil shavings interwoven with coffee, new saddle leather, melted licorice, cedarwood, black currant liqueur, and violets. Explosive richness, a marvelous, full-bodied texture, and fabulous purity, concentration, complexity, and nobleness are the stuff of legends. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2028+." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #157 (February 2005)
--Vintage 2002(6)
"I believe the 2001 Harlan Estate and 2002 Harlan Estate's 100 point scores represent the first time I have given perfect ratings to two successive wines produced in the New World. However, the styles of the two wines couldn't be more different as each reflects its particular vintage. The 2001 is a classic, long-lived, backward wine with most of its potential concealed at present. On the other hand, it is impossible to resist the flamboyant, extroverted 2002 Harlan Estate's charm, richness, and overall seductive personality. This profoundly complex wine exhibits notes of cedar, black currant liqueur, scorched earth, smoke, and graphite. Incredibly broad, sweet, full-bodied, opulent, and voluptuous, it literally has everything one could ever want in a great Cabernet Sauvignon-based wine. Already drinkable, it promises to evolve effortlessly for 25-30 years. This prodigious offering is worth mortgaging the farm!" Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #162 (December 2005) All in original wooden cases
Above 45 bottles per lot
Harlan, undoubtedly one of the premier estates in the Napa Valley, is the product of the finest ingredients. With a 240-acre mountainside estate overlooking Martha's Vineyard, only 30-acres meet the perfect conditions to be under vine. Of this selective area, winemaker Bob Levy and consultant Michel Rolland take less than two tons of grapes per acre of red Bordeaux varietals. Meticulous hand sorting methods done grape-by-grape make the wine one of the most labor intensive products of the wine world. The estate red is among the few California wines to truly garner "cult" status with limited production, famously long waits to join the mailing list, and above all, good juice. The estate's hallmark unctuously rich wines are even rarer when found in magnum.
Harlan Estate
Napa Valley
--Vintage 1990(1)
--Vintage 1991(1)
"This is a profoundly great wine. It came across in a blind tasting as one of the most remarkable wines there, with most tasters mistaking it for a first-growth Medoc. The wine revealed an opaque purple color, a fabulously complex, sweet nose of minerals, fruitcake, cedar, toasty new oak, and pure blackcurrant fruit. Although huge in the mouth, the wine is remarkably well-balanced, with its high tannin level well-concealed by copious quantities of sweet ripe fruit, as well as huge amounts of glycerin and extract. I have consistently rated the 1991 Harlan Estate in the mid to upper nineties, but in this blind tasting with so many high quality wines, it was a big-time winner. Approachable now, this wine should be at its best by the turn of the century and last for 2-3 decades." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #162 (February 1997)
--Vintage 1992(1)
"The newest release, the 1992, offers a dense purple color, and a splendid sweet nose of minerals, blackcurrants, toast, and spice. Opulent and rich, with full body, and well-integrated sweet tannin, this expansive yet graceful wine possesses layers of flavor that caress the palate. The wine is accessible, yet still youthful and unformed. It should drink well for 20+ years." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #108 (December 1996)
--Vintage 1993(1)
"The 1993 should be as prodigious as the 1992. It is an opaque purple-colored wine with spectacular ripeness, purity, and potential. Dense, full-bodied, with a chocolatey, toasty, mineral, and blackcurrant-scented nose, this wine has a rich, full-bodied, chewy texture nicely buttressed by ripe tannin. In addition, the wine reveals more noticeable tannin in the finish, particularly when it is compared to the 1992 or 1994. This is another 20-25 year wine." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #108 (December 1996)
--Vintage 1994(1)
"What can I say about the 1994? I have tasted the wine for three consecutive years, and each time it satisfied all of my requirements for perfection. The opaque purple color is followed by spectacular aromatics that soar from the glass, offering up celestial levels of black currants, minerals, smoked herbs, cedar wood, coffee, and pain grille. In the mouth, this seamless legend reveals full body, and exquisite layers of phenomenally pure and rich fruit, followed by a 40+ second finish. While accessible, the 1994 begs for another 5-7 years of cellaring. It should easily last for 30+ years. Every possible jagged edge - acidity, alcohol, tannin, and wood - is brilliantly intertwined in what seems like a diaphanous format. What is so extraordinary about this large-scaled wine, with its dazzling display of aromatics and prodigious flavors and depth, is that it offers no hint of heaviness or coarseness. Harlan's 1994 comes close to immortality in the glass." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #114 (December 1997)
--Vintage 1995(1)
"The 1995 Proprietary Red Wine is almost as perfect as the 1994. It has gotten even better in the bottle, and remains one of the most remarkable young Cabernet Sauvignons I have tasted. The wine, a blend of 85 Cabernet Sauvignon and 15 Merlot, was aged in 100 new oak, which adds subtle pain grille/toasty scents. This opaque purple-colored Cabernet offers up a nose of smoke, coffee beans, black and blue fruits, minerals, and roasted herbs. It is extremely full-bodied, with spectacular purity, exquisite equilibrium, and a seamless personality with everything in total harmony. The finish lasts for more than 40 seconds. This extravagantly rich, profoundly complex 1995 will give its 1994 sibling a run for its money. Anticipated maturity: 2001-2027." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #120 (December 1998)
--Vintage 1996(6)
"The opaque purple-colored 1996 Harlan Estate reveals extraordinary intensity, a spicy, black currant, tobacco, cedar, and fruit cake-scented bouquet, full body, a texture oozing with glycerin and concentrated fruit, and moderate tannin in the blockbuster finish. It is one of the most concentrated and complete red wines one could hope to taste. Anticipated maturity: 2004-2030." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #126 (January 2000)
--Vintage 1997(6)
"The 1997 Harlan Estate is one of the greatest Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines I have ever tasted. A blend of 80 Cabernet Sauvignon, with the rest Merlot and Cabernet Franc, this enormously-endowed, profoundly rich wine must be tasted to be believed. Opaque purple-colored, it boasts spectacular, soaring aromatics of vanilla, minerals, coffee, blackberries, licorice, and cassis. In the mouth, layer after layer unfold powerfully yet gently. Acidity, tannin, and alcohol are well-balanced by the wine's unreal richness and singular personality. The finish exceeds one minute. Anticipated maturity: 2001-2030." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #132 (December 2000)
--Vintage 1998(3)
"The 1998, which is a candidate for the "Wine of the Vintage," was produced from yields of 0.9 tons per acre. There are only 1,100 cases, and it is the first Harlan Estate to be composed of 100 Cabernet Sauvignon. A spectacular achievement, it boasts an opaque plum/purple color as well as a sumptuous nose of espresso, mineral, blueberry, blackberry, tobacco, licorice, asian spice, and roasted meat smells. In the mouth, it is seamless, full-bodied, with an unctuous texture, gorgeously sweet tannin, and layer upon layer of concentration. This is a tour de force in winemaking. It is hard to believe that a wine such as this has emerged from 1998." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #132 (December 2000)
--Vintage 1999(6)
"The 1999 Harlan Estate (1,700 cases) reveals moderately intense aromatics of sweet vanilla, menthol, espresso, chocolate, and cassis. The wine is medium to full-bodied, suave, and elegant. It is more restrained and not as intense as previous vintages, reflecting 1999's cool growing season. Nevertheless, this is still an outstanding wine. The finish is long, elegant, and Bordeaux-like. It is not as prodigious as the Harlans produced between 1991 and 1998. I would rank it behind all those wines. Anticipated maturity: now-2016." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #142 (August 2002)
--Vintage 2000(6)
"I have never been totally convinced by the 2000 Harlan Estate, but now that it's in bottle, it is a very fine offering. The problem is that it must be compared with the other Harlan Estate wines made to date. A Graves-like perfume of roasted coffee, scorched earth, black currants, cedar, and a hint of menthol emerge from this dense dark ruby/purple-colored 2000. Lighter than normal, but medium to full-bodied and elegant, with soft tannin as well as a silky, precocious personality and texture, it can be drunk now and over the next 12 years." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #150 (December 2003)
--Vintage 2001(6)
"Rivaling the 1994 and 1997, the 2001 Harlan Estate is a perfect wine for my palate. Tasted on four separate occasions, this offering, which spent 28 months in oak before being bottled unfined and unfiltered, is an extraordinary effort that comes across as a hypothetical blend of Mouton-Rothschild, La Mission-Haut-Brion, and Montrose. A synthesis in style between the more elegant, delineated, structured 1994, and the port-like, over-the-top, viscous 1997, this extraordinary 2001 was the "wine of my trip," even though I had already had it from bottle several months earlier. An inky/purple color is accompanied by a stupendous bouquet of lead pencil shavings interwoven with coffee, new saddle leather, melted licorice, cedarwood, black currant liqueur, and violets. Explosive richness, a marvelous, full-bodied texture, and fabulous purity, concentration, complexity, and nobleness are the stuff of legends. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2028+." Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #157 (February 2005)
--Vintage 2002(6)
"I believe the 2001 Harlan Estate and 2002 Harlan Estate's 100 point scores represent the first time I have given perfect ratings to two successive wines produced in the New World. However, the styles of the two wines couldn't be more different as each reflects its particular vintage. The 2001 is a classic, long-lived, backward wine with most of its potential concealed at present. On the other hand, it is impossible to resist the flamboyant, extroverted 2002 Harlan Estate's charm, richness, and overall seductive personality. This profoundly complex wine exhibits notes of cedar, black currant liqueur, scorched earth, smoke, and graphite. Incredibly broad, sweet, full-bodied, opulent, and voluptuous, it literally has everything one could ever want in a great Cabernet Sauvignon-based wine. Already drinkable, it promises to evolve effortlessly for 25-30 years. This prodigious offering is worth mortgaging the farm!" Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #162 (December 2005) All in original wooden cases
Above 45 bottles per lot
Provenance
Purchased upon release property of a New Jersey gentleman removed from temparature controlled home storage.