x
  • Country ranking ?

    245
  • Producer ranking ?

    28
  • Decanting time

    4h
  • When to drink

    from 2018
  • Food Pairing

    Spring Lamb with Honey and Thyme Baby Vegetables

The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.

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The Story

With the founding of Harlan Estate in 1984, we embarked upon our mission of creating a “first growth” of California. The estate’s early vineyard development began with just six acres. Today our planting is essentially complete, with nearly forty acres under vine to the classic varietals: cabernet sauvignon (70%), merlot (20%), cabernet franc (8%), and petit verdot (2%). Invariably, the finished wine is predominately cabernet sauvignon, which we blend with varying amounts of the other three varietals as we seek to express faithfully the unique and distinctive character of the site.

Modest quantities of wine were produced in 1987, 1988, and 1989 from grapes that represented the second, third, and fourth leaf of our estate vineyard. In each of those years a small number of barrels were produced in the hope of gaining a prescient glimpse into what the character of the land—never before cultivated—might have to offer. The wines were blended, bottled, and labeled with a special designation. Though charming in their own way, these first wines fell short of our standards and aspirations, so were never released. They continue to serve as humble reminders of where we began the journey.

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Wine Information

“This was a vintage that yielded wines with great layers and nuances thanks to prolonged harvest period. The fruit material was very ripe, but showed as well a lot of freshness and lively acidity. For me it is reminiscent of the 2005 but with a greater degree of concentration.”

“We witnessed lower than average rainfall and the growing season was long with very even temperatures during most of the year. After the first week in September the weather cooled off significantly which lead to moderate to long periods between veraison and harvest for all of our properties. Yields were slightly elevated as we had an excellent fruit set due to good weather during bloom. We did a green harvest at veraison reducing the fruit by 15-25%. At harvest the differences in rootstock, topography and exposition were exaggerated so we had to do many passes and segregate a little more in some properties. Luckily we had almost a solid month to harvest without pressure. We were able to get 94% of the vineyards harvested before the heavy – almost 5 inches – rainfall in October 12. After the rain we let the remaining blocks dry out a bit and then we went in and harvested almost a week later. It is noteworthy to mention that many of those wines turned out to be much better than expected.” 

Cory Empting, Winemaker – Harlan & Bond Estates

 

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Average Bottle Price

2016 2015 2014 2013
590€ +8.7% 543€ +2.6% 529€ -10.2% 589€

This data comes from the FINE Auction Index, a composite of average prices for wines sold at commercial auctions in 20 countries. The average prices from each year have been collected since 1990. This chart plots the index value of the average price of the wines.

Latest Pro-tasting notes

20 tasting notes

Tasting note

color

Deep, Purple and Bright

ending

Medium

flavors

Bread, Blackcurrant, Earthy and Mineral

nose

Intense and Refined

recommend

No

taste

Perfectly balanced, Balanced, Concentrated, Developing, Full-bodied, Simple, Vigor, Powerful and Drying tannins

Verdict

Excellent and Intelligent

Written Notes

Intense dark fruit. Very tight and concentrated. Overripe and slightly stewed tasting. Going over into meat and marmite. Not quite porty but it is going that way. Then pretty tough on the palate. Highly extracted and oaked. I really would not want to drink this with dinner, even if I could afford to. Maybe it just needs a long time in bottle. (JH)

  • 88p

Bright, saturated ruby. Alluring aromas of blueberry, cassis, licorice, minerals, mocha and nutty oak. At once thick and lively on entry, then densely packed and compellingly deep in in the middle palate, with its dark fruit, smoke and graphite flavors conveying a subtle savory quality that nicely buffers the wine's sweetness and alcohol. At once harmonious and gripping for the year, this reverberating, palate-staining wine spreads out on the back end without losing its verticality--if that's possible! Impeccable tannin management here.

  • 97p

Stylistically, the 2009 Harlan Estate has quite a bit in common with the 2012, namely soft contours, plush fruit and tons of sheer immediacy. Now with a few years in bottle, the 2009 is just beginning to show the first signs of aromatic development. Deep, creamy and pliant, the 2009 can be enjoyed now, although it is sure to gain complexity over the next two decades.

  • 97p

Intense and concentrated, with tightly wound pepper, spice, wild berry, currant and fresh leather flavors that slowly and gracefully unfold, revealing layers of complexity and depth and finishing with a long, layered, persistent aftertaste.

  • 96p

Ruby. Intense, ripe, rich, fruity and layered nose, big. Fresh acidity, ripe tannins, ripe, rich, fruity, big, fruity again, just so much! More nuanced than last bottle two weeks back or so. Very long. 94

  • 94p

The third year in a row with below-average rainfall, 2009 will go down as being a relatively even growing season, with very few heat surges during the summer months. September provided ideal ripening conditions with 12 days in the 90°s. Harvest began September 2. Nearly all lots were “in the barn” prior to a looming rainstorm (6 inches) that arrived on October 12. We gathered the final few blocks on October 18.

tasting notes

At this writing, the 2009 vintage is still in various stages of production, with some tanks still being pressed off, others having been barreled down and undergoing malolactic. Overall, a superlative vintage.

"The 2009 Proprietary Blend Harlan Estate is just as impressive from bottle as it was from barrel. Cloves, dark plums, cherries, smoke and graphite add richness and resonance to this powerful, incisive wine. Juicy and exuberant, the 2009 has always had a certain raciness that is impossible to resist. Layers of fruit continue to build to the enveloping, sensual finish. Readers will have a hard time keeping their hands off this hugely delicious wine. Anticipated maturity: 2019-2034." Antonio Galloni
  • 96p
Good looking normal size bottle. Colour is purple, and looking bright, dark, full and deep . On the nose it is open, youthful, intense and refined. The taste is with perfectly balanced, good texture, concentrated structure, developing and the palate is simple. On the palate it is layered and has bread flavours.
- (Tasting note created by Tb's AI)
  • 95p
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Information

Origin

Oakville, Napa Valley

Vintage Quality

Excellent

Value For Money

Good

Investment potential

Excellent

Fake factory

None

Glass time

3h

Inside Information

97 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

  The 2009 Proprietary Blend Harlan Estate is just as impressive from bottle as it was from barrel. Cloves, dark plums, cherries, smoke and graphite add richness and resonance to this powerful, incisive wine. Juicy and exuberant, the 2009 has always had a certain raciness that is impossible to resist. Layers of fruit continue to build to the enveloping, sensual finish. Readers will have a hard time keeping their hands off this hugely delicious wine. Anticipated maturity: 2019-2034.   (12/ 2012)

97 points Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar

  Saturated ruby to the rim. Outstanding floral lift to the aromas of cassis, licorice, menthol and pungent minerality. Very pure, primary and high-pitched, but already boasts an extraordinarily fine-grained texture, reflecting both the vintage and the site. Most impressive today on the palate-saturating finish, which features wonderfully silky tannins and great mounting persistence.   (5/ 2012)

96 points Wine Spectator

  *Collectibles* Offering a Pomerol-like silkiness, this is very rich and layered, with ripe dark berry, roasted plum and cassis flavors. Yet what's striking is the texture, which has the density of the proverbial iron fist in a velvet glove.   (10/ 2012)

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