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Harlan Estate 2006

Harlan Estate, Napa Valley, United States

Harlan Estate
Napa Valley United States
  • 98
    Points
  • The 529 best
    of 3 290 954
    wines globally
  • 14 Pros of
    14 recommend
    this wine
605 98
  • Taste
  • Moment

  • Country ranking ?

    153

  • Producer ranking ?

    22

  • Decanting time

    5h

  • When to drink

    now to 2040

  • Food Pairing

    Grilled Porterhouse Steaks with Gorgonzola Walnut Butter

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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98 points James Suckling

Intense aromas of black pepper, blueberry, blackberry, tar, and black licorice. Full bodied, with amazing length and a toned muscular character. This lasts for minutes. Like a world class ballerina. It is held back and beautiful. Please leave this alone until 2015! 

96 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The 2006 Harlan Estate has turned out better than I originally predicted. Its dense ruby/purple color is f...

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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 w...

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Wine Information

Cold, wet (52+ inches) weather in winter and early spring delayed budbreak, but the ground dried out very quickly. Fast and vigorous shoot growth required diligent thinning. a warmer summer than 2005, but it was by no means a hot summer along the lines of 2001, 2002, or 2004. harvest began on september 18, with deliberate ripening, and finished on October 31. average yield: 1.8 tons per acre.

tasting notes

at the time of going to press, ...

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Latest Pro-tasting notes

11 tasting notes

Tasting note

color

Medium, Ruby red and Healthy

ending

Long, Extensive and Pure

nose

Youthful, Seductive, Refined and Rich

recommend

Yes

taste

Average in Acidity, Warming, Well-Integrated, Multi-dimensional, Developing, Harmonious, Vigor, Fresh, Dry and Silky tannins

Verdict

Intelligent and Sophisticated

Written Notes

Intense aromas of black pepper, blueberry, blackberry, tar, and black licorice. Full bodied, with amazing length and a toned muscular character. This lasts for minutes. Like a world class ballerina. It is held back and beautiful. Please leave this alone until 2015! 

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  • 98p

((500) Full medium ruby. Subdued but pure and vibrant nose offers black raspberry, minerals, licorice and truffle, all lifted by an ineffable perfume that carries through on the palate. Boasts terrific definition and energy; following the group of Bond offerings from '06, this tasted like a wine from another vintage. Very intensely flavored but wonderfully refined wine, with a light touch to its slowly mounting, highly complex flavors of dark fruits, spices, minerals, tobacco and spices. A wine of great finesse, finishing with superb tannins and outstanding lift. This wine has been a knockout from the outset.

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  • 97p

Cold, wet (52+ inches) weather in winter and early spring delayed budbreak, but the ground dried out very quickly. Fast and vigorous shoot growth required diligent thinning. A warmer summer than 2005, but it was by no means a hot summer along the lines of 2001, 2002, or 2004. Harvest began on September 18, with deliberate ripening, and finished on October 31. Average yield: 1.8 tons per acre.

tasting notes

At the time of going to press, the 2006 has been in the bottle for nearly a year. Its color is a full, deep ruby. The vibrant nose is rich in detail. The entry is currently intensely fruit-forward in a lively and refreshing way, with tremendous mouth-energy and layered flavors of blackberry, raspberry, tobacco, anise, and spice. There is a focus and linearity, reminiscent of the 1996 when it was in its youth, that bodes well for both early enjoyment and extended longevity. While it’s in the early stages of its evolution, we feel it has great long-term potential

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I first tasted 2006 Harlan Estate at the winery, just before release. My tasting notes then were based on a very young wine, and to be more correct, a much too young wine. At that time, the oak wasn’t perfectly integrated in the ripe, lush and young, very intense primary fruitforward body. Tasted again last year, all components had finally married, and even still young and dense, it offered a great finesse and even though it’s much riper, much more concentrated, deeper and with more oak and more silky texture, it’s fashioned in a Bordeaux like way. The taste is mediumbodied with a dense and very intense dark berry like fruit, ripe and rich as expected, yet a bit restrained in a classic way. Of the once obvious oak flavor, there’s only a fine note of vanilla, ceder tree and bacon. My first impression when I tasted the wine, was that it due to the balance of astringency, structure, acidity and and intensity, reminds me of what a blend of the great 1994 and the lighter and fresher 1996 would have been. It’s lileky to assume that the wine will evolve in the same way as the 1996 vintage. So, in ten years from now, I guess this will be a very fine and complex wine, extremely well drinkable but not with the same depth and concentration as the 1994. I will not touch my rare bottles of this baby for some years, and when I do, I’ll decant the wine a good hour prior to serving it. This may be an interesting reflection: when I tasted the 2006 Harlan Estate at the estate, I also tasted the full range of 2006 wines from Bond. At that time, I found two of the Bond wines to be as good or even “better” than Harlan Estate (those were Vecina and Pluribus). That was, at least for me, the first time I rated Bond higher than Harlan.
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  • 97p
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Information

Origin

Oakville, Napa Valley

Vintage Quality

Excellent

Value For Money

Good

Investment potential

Very Good

Fake factory

None

Glass time

2h
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