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  • Country ranking ?

    79
  • Producer ranking ?

    13
  • Decanting time

    3h
  • When to drink

    from 2020
  • Food Pairing

    Pressed guinea fowl with young vegetables

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98 points James Suckling

 The pure fruit is incredible with a dark-fruit and blackberry character. Some sous bois but also shows clarity and finesse. Full body and super fine tannins. Tight and so pretty. A classy and fine Harlan. (5/2018) 

98 points Vinous

 A wine of restraint and sensuality, the 2014 Harlan Estate is wonderfully transparent in feel. Time in the glass brings out a compelling interplay of beautifully layered fruit and...

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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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Tasting note

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Written Notes

The pure fruit is incredible with a dark-fruit and blackberry character. Some sous bois but also shows clarity and finesse. Full body and super fine tannins. Tight and so pretty. A classy and fine Harlan. Needs four to five years to open up.

  • 98p

An early drinking vintage of Harlan, say it isn't so! Most vintages of Harlan demand cellaring time, as if it was its right to do so. But the 2014 is deceptively easy to drink, almost forward in style. Powerful, with strong tannins and even more fruit, which due to its velvety textures and graceful style, overwhelms the tannins. The fruits are as dark in color as the wine, but there are cracks and crevices where, dark red, smoky berries, wet earth, cigar wrapper and spice poke through. The wine sticks with you from the first sniff, through the palate entry and doesn't leave for up to 50 seconds, after the finish.

  • 97p

Deeper and richer than the Maiden cuvee, the 2014 Harlan Estate offers the classic black fruits, charcoal, and minerality that’s the hallmark of this iconic estate. It shows more floral notes with time in the glass, has full-bodied richness, a sexy, supple, regal personality, no hard edges, and gorgeous purity of fruit. It’s certainly more approachable than the 2015, yet is still going to benefit from 3-4 years of bottle age and keep for two decades.

  • 97p

A wine of restraint and sensuality, the 2014 Harlan Estate is wonderfully transparent in feel. Time in the glass brings out a compelling interplay of beautifully layered fruit and lifted aromatics. The 2014 is one of the most understated yet energetic young vintages of Harlan Estate I can remember tasting. Readers who have not tasted Harlan Estate in a few years might be taken aback by just how sophisticated and nuanced the 2014 is. This is a superb effort.

  • 98p

Deliciously pure and polished, with a juicy mix of blackberry, wild berry, currant and black licorice flavors, supported by firm, fine-grained tannins that give this a gentle texture and nice grip. Ends with a dusty, sweet aftertaste.

  • 97p

Bright crimson. Quite a muted, black olive, quite complex nose. Firm charge of chalky tannins. This is sweet without being sickly. The alcohol appears only on the very end. It must be so hard to move with the times while satisfying long-term customers. Long and interesting. Though a little inky and not ready. A fresh shower of acidity plus quite a lot of tannin on the end that also has some luscious fruit. It’s clearly a wine into which a lot of work goes but it’s difficult to justify the price (more than Mouton!). 17.5/20 points (3/2018)

  • 91p

Dark, dense, purple. Round, refined, silky smooth. Full-bodied, silky smooth texture, ripe, very round and supple mouthfeel. Polished long and lingering finish. (JL 97p; Nov 2018)

  • 97p
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Origin

Oakville, Napa Valley
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