Wine Advisor
Harlan, Proprietary Red 2019
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Joe Czerwinski
The head-spinning 2019 Harlan Estate is truly amazing stuff. Gentle cedar notes lead into layered dark chocolate and cassis, somehow impossibly rich yet savory. Full-bodied, concentrated and supple, this is dense, packed with flavor but seemingly weightless, with a lush, lingering finish that combines intensity with freshness to compel sip after sip. Like all truly great wines, it's full of somehow harmonious contradictions.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2019 Harlan Estate is supremely elegant. Bright floral accents perk up a core of red/purplish fruit, lavender, rose petal, sage and mint all run through the 2019. Medium in body and gracious, the 2019 is all energy. It's not so much a wine of a vintage, but rather a wine that reflects the personality of a place and style. Time in the glass brings out the wines breath and resonance, yet notable freshness and verve remain. This is one of the more delicate, nuanced wines readers will taste from 2019, a year that generally yielded wines of opulence.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
Tasted from barrel, the 2019 Harlan Estate is relatively soft and open-knit. Lifted aromatics and silky tannins lend a fair amount of approachability. Crushed flowers, sweet bright red berry fruit, spice and orange peel linger. The 2019 is shaping up to be a real charmer. I have to think I caught it at an especially expressive state.
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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