2010 Harlan Estate, Harlan Estate, Napa Valley 1×1.5L

Vinous 100

The 2010 Harlan Estate is a total head-turner. Powerful, dense and exotically ripe – as so many wines are in this vintage – the 2010 dazzles with magnificent intensity. Baritone inflections run through the black cherry, graphite, smoke, tar and licorice flavors. Heat spikes at the end of what was generally a cold growing season yielded wines that bring together structure and fruit density. [Antonio Galloni, 01/09/2017]

Anticipated maturity: 2018-2037

Robert Parker 96

Layers of dark fruit, new leather, mocha, espresso, graphite and licorice are woven together in a beguiling exotic tapestry in the 2010 Harlan Estate. Seamless and pure, yet backed up by serious tannins, the 2010 wraps around the palate with intense depth and pure resonance in every direction. Hints of graphite and pencil shavings linger on the palate-staining finish. This is a great, great showing from Harlan Estate. Anticipated maturity: 2018-2035. (Not yet released) Even after all of these years, and with much more intense competition than ever before, Harlan Estate remains one of the great wines in Napa Valley. The 2009s have fulfilled all the promise they showed from barrel, but the 2010s might be even better. I also had a chance to taste the 1992 Harlan Estate, a wine I sold for a whopping $60, a princely sum at the time, at a Boston area restaurant where I worked in the mid 1990s. At age 20, the 1992 is at a glorious peak of expression. What a wine! Bill Harlan’s Promontory remains a work in progress, and I imagine it will be some time before the wines are up to Harlan’s uncompromising standards. After all, it took Harlan and his team seven vintages to feel comfortable showing Harlan Estate to Robert Parker. The maniacal attention to detail I have seen in the vineyards at Promontory bodes very well for the future. Tel. (707) 944-1441 [Antonio Galloni, 12/27/2012]

Anticipated maturity: 2018-2035