Wine Advisor
Harlan, Proprietary Red 2014
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
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.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
One of the wines of the vintage, 2014 Harlan Estate is restrained and polished to the core. In fact, the 2014 might be the most polished young Harlan Estate I have ever tasted. Brisk and energetic at the outset, the 2014 possesses striking aromatic lift and precision, all of which highlight the purity of the fruit. Scents of dark cherry, plum, leather and spice open up with time in the glass, but it is the wine's overall feel and poise that make it pretty hard to resist, even at this very early stage.
Reviewed by: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
The deep garnet-purple colored 2014 Harlan Estate offers up subtle cassis, black cherries and crushed blackberries notes with tons of savory and earthy layers: forest floor, black soil, charcoal and dried herbs, plus wafts of violets and rare beef. Full-bodied and built like a brick house in the mouth, it has loads of tense, muscular fruit with many layers of earth, savory and spice nuances emerging, finishing with epic length. Around 2,100 cases were bottled.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The 2014 Harlan Estate is primarily Cabernet Sauvignon aged a minimum of 24 months in mostly new oak. It displays sweet graphite notes, some mulberry, blackberry and cassis, and touches of scorched earth and hot rocks, which always vaguely suggest something from the Northern Graves region of Bordeaux. However, it has a Pauillac-like structure, density and opulence. This is a wine of terrific fruit intensity and a vintage that’s very forward by Harlan Estate’s standards and already delicious to drink. It’s hard to compare to another vintage of Harlan, given its precociousness and already flattering style. Drink it over the next 25 years.
About the Producer
The land at Château Harlan is unique in that the vineyards are situated on hillsides that are well drained and rise and fall with the slopes. The first 9.7 hectares of vineyard, planted between 1986 and 1987, was planted in a staggered manner, as the two small plots that make up the vineyard are located on either side of the hillside. The vines were planted with 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. The vineyards are planted at varying densities, with half of the vineyards planted with 1,750 vines per hectare and the other half with 5,500 vines per hectare. The high quality of Château Hallam's wines is a result of the meticulousness of the entire winemaking process. The winemaking philosophy at Château Hallam is to preserve the natural flavour of the grapes and to take a gentle approach to the growing and fermentation process. The barrels in the winery are all new French oak barrels. The main wine, Harlan Estate Proprietary Red, is aged in barrel for 25 months, while the unselected wine is bottled after 10 months as a secondary wine, The Maiden, without filtration or clarification. The wines of Château Hallam are dark in colour, fruity and floral, with strong, restrained tannins and a firm, robust texture, and have the potential to age for at least 20 years. Best vintages include: 1991, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2007.
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