Harlan Estate – We had been looking forward to visiting Harlan Estate for some time. This was one of our special visits on this project; it is the 600th review of an active winery/producer to appear on this site. And remarkably, we have since nearly doubled this number with now a total of nearly 1,200 unique Napa Valley wineries/producers personally visited, tasted with and extensively profiled on this site.
We chose Harlan Estate for this milestone visit because of their well-regarded reputation for quality, the instant name recognition and because of Mr. Harlan’s unique personal contributions, influence and history in Napa Valley over the past 40+ years.
Harlan went to school at the University of California Berkeley; his first introduction to Napa Valley was in 1959; at this time, Napa served the purpose of weekend getaways for bringing his dates up from Berkeley. Lured by the natural beauty and eventually by the potential for growing wine grapes his visits became more frequent. His passion for wine started in his teens. Mr. Harlan attended the opening day of Robert Mondavi’s winery in 1966 and by this time was already nurturing a dream of owning his own wine estate, although perhaps he didn’t realize at the time, that Robert Mondavi Winery would one day be one of his ‘neighbors’.
He traveled to Europe and visited some of the great estates in Burgundy and Bordeaux all the while taking copious notes. He fell in love with Bordeaux and was taken in with the quality and consistency of the wines from these estates.
Before his involvement in Napa Valley, Harlan and his partner Peter Stocker founded Pacific Union Land Company in 1975, with an initial focus of selling condominiums and developing condominium projects in the San Francisco Bay Area. The company is still very much active, based in Danville and focuses on land, residential, self-storage and commercial development.
Before Harlan Estate there was Sunny St. Helena/Merryvale which was among the first wineries to be built after Prohibition in Napa Valley. Harlan and his real estate partners including Peter Stocker and John Montgomery purchased this old winery site in 1983 and completely renovated the winery/hospitality buildings before ultimately selling to the Schlatter family of Switzerland, Merryvale’s current owners.
Harlan Estate has been built around a great vineyard site, but also, just as equally important, Bill Harlan has attracted some of the brightest individuals to his team, both in the vineyard and in the cellar. It was during his time overseeing Merryvale that Harlan met three men who would be very instrumental as he developed his various properties in the valley: Don Weaver who later became the General Manager of Harlan Estate, winemaker Bob Levy and consulting winemaker Michel Rolland.
The first vintages of Harlan Estate were produced at Merryvale Winery in St. Helena until their own winery was completed in time for the 1997 harvest. Winemaker Martha McClellan worked on making some of the early vintages of Harlan Estate (1995-2000), initially at Merryvale Vineyards and then transitioned to Harlan Estate once the winery was built.
Harlan sold his interest in Merryvale in the mid 1990s. And before Merryvale there was Meadowood, still one of the most exclusive lodging options in Napa Valley. Meadowood was established by Bill Harlan in 1979 and for decades was home to Auction Napa Valley, one of the country’s largest charity wine auctions, held the first week of every June. Until unfortunately being destroyed by the 2020 Glass Fire, the Restaurant at Meadowood was one of two three-star Michelin restaurants in Napa Valley – the other being the French Laundry.
Not to be outdone is Napa Valley’s most exclusive “wine club”, the Napa Valley Reserve which was also started by Bill Harlan. Located adjacent to Meadowood this exclusive invitation only wine club includes access to a top winemaking team, specially produced private-label wine, use of facilities, special events, travels, and educational events. The initiation fee at the time of our most recent update to this review runs approximately $165,000.
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Harlan purchased the original land to eventually become Harlan Estate in 1984; at that time, despite being 40 years ago, the property was completely forested and covered with native vegetation. The original purchase was 6 acres; this has grown to 240 acres today with 40 acres under vine. Mr. Harlan had the foresight and vision to turn this hillside acreage into a world class “first growth” vineyard of Napa Valley.
While Harlan’s own property had never before been developed to vineyards, nearby parts of Oakville certainly had proven terroir including To Kalon Vineyard and Martha’s Vineyard. Oakville has been called “the tenderloin of Napa Valley” and for good reasons; with such diversity in soils, climates and exposures across a rather narrow band in the valley, this slice of the valley has certainly attracted some of Napa’s most premium producers.
The property is meticulously maintained. The vines were originally planted by David Abreu and overseen for 15 years; his role today is more of a consultant with noted viticulturist Mary Maher handling the in-house day to day vineyard management. Viticulture is in her blood; her father is Dick Maher, former president of Beringer Vineyards and her husband is noted viticulturist, Kelly Maher. The property elevation ranges from just above the valley floor at 150 feet to the high point at 1200 feet but vineyards are only planted between about 300 to 500 feet.
Harlan’s first “vintage” was 1987 but this was not released. Neither was the 88 or the 89. 1990 was their first released commercial vintage (very small production), and at a price point of $65 when it was released in 1996. This sounds affordable today, but was among the higher priced wines of that vintage from Napa Valley. The 1991 was also released simultaneously. Harlan was not in a hurry to push wine to market after purchasing the property. Mr. Harlan’s focus on Harlan Estate has always been a long term one – thinking out decades in the future.
For a winery with such instant name recognition, the entrance is very unassuming. The winery itself is nestled among native oaks and other vegetation on top of a small knoll. As they say at the winery, “we let the views do the heavy lifting around here”. Looking east one has vistas of the entire central part of Napa Valley including a panoramic view across Oakville.
The winery was designed by well-known architect Howard Backen (died 2024); he worked with Bill Harlan on various projects for many years. Backen’s wineries are built to be unobtrusive from the outside, but perhaps make a statement on the inside. He has designed a number of premium winery properties in Napa Valley including Ovid, Dana Estate and nearby Futo Estate.
The focus on quality is clearly evident when entering the winery. Cleanliness and aesthetics are key here. All barrels are perfectly lined in rows using a laser sight. They stay lined up until bottling; Harlan Estate does not rack the barrels. Nevertheless, this is a working winery and function is blended seamlessly with form.
Only perfectly ripe berries are allowed to begin fermentation using indigenous yeasts. The grapes are picked and carefully taken to the winery in small picking bins; the fruit then undergoes triage (triple sorting, cluster, de-stemmer and finally by hand). The wine is fermented in large oak open top casks which are used for 3 harvests and then traded out for new ones. From the fermentation room, the wine is gravity fed to the cellar below.
Bob Levy has been involved in the wine making side of the operations since day one (before Harlan he was involved at Merryvale) and was winemaker for many years until more recently. Today his role is Director of Winegrowing and Cory Empting has taken over as their full-time winemaker. All critical blending decisions are always made by the core Harlan team as well as flying French consulting winemaker Michel Rolland.
Select Wines
The 2020 Harlan Estate Cabernet Sauvignon is deep ruby and nearly opaque in the glass with an amaranthine rim; the initial hit on the aromatics is floral including of violets, accompanied by a light note of sweet tobacco spice and cocoa powder, old cedar box, petrichor, dark olive and fruit scents of blackberry, cherry and plum. Not one aromatic attribute dominates on the bouquet. Superbly balanced across the palate, like the bouquet all its characters are harmoniously integrated. The palate offers flavors of dark plum, cherry and blackberry. The ripe tannins offer a persistent grainy, pixelated and savory grip, with their texture showing more on the front of the palate than the back. The savory and chewy finish features a persistent woodsy spice. Medium+ acidity. This is a handsome showing from an extremely challenging year.
The 2006 Harlan Estate Proprietary Red has simultaneous power and elegance; it is an intriguing and an intense wine filled with rich flavors and accompanying structure. Winemaker Bob Levy likes to talk about “tannin development” (which is a critical part of their winemaking program). This vintage certainly has this but not in an overtly bold way – rather the tannins are integrated well in the wine’s finish. The 2006 is an intense, layered, and luscious wine on the palate. The elegant bouquet shows notes of sweet cassis, brown chocolate and darker fruits including cherry and blackberry. The finish is extremely long. This is a wine built to age, but we will not argue with anyone about drinking it now. An impressive showing.
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Harlan’s wine label has an interesting story. It was designed and is still printed by a private printing / engraving company who used to print the United States currency before the U.S. Treasury was established. The idea was to create a label that looked like an engraving for a bottle, that by itself was a piece of art.
Harlan produces a second wine called “The Maiden” crafted from barreled wines that do not make it into the Harlan Estate wine. This wine is led by Cabernet Sauvignon but with sizable percentages of Cabernet Franc and Merlot in the blend.
Surprisingly, Harlan has distribution in about 35 states and 30 countries – yet with a production of only 1800 cases and their price point, distribution is very selective. Locally one can find the wine at times, at several places in Napa Valley including part of a tasting at K.Laz in Yountville and at the Oakville Grocery and Oakville Wine Merchant. Harlan sells direct, but one must be on their mailing list. To join the waiting list, visit: www.harlanestate.com
When is the allocation time for the maiden tnx