2004 Harlan Estate Proprietary Red

Magnum. 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, remainder: Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot. Notes of dried flowers, dried tobacco and a bit of mixed spice carry nose through palate. Resinous herbs emerge with air marking the wine distinctly as Cabernet. The palate has a bit less density and also more apparent oak spice compared with younger vintages. The tannin stands out as a little bit grippy but it is followed by a mouth-watering finish. The 2004 is a nice wine but with a bit less interest than some for me personally. (ECB)

Deep, sexy nose conveys a liqueur-like ripeness to the aromas of blackcurrant, dark chocolate, tobacco and warm stones. Plush and incredibly fine-grained, showing compelling thickness and density to the slightly high-toned flavors of black raspberry liqueur and minerals. This very ripe, large-scaled wine saturates the entire palate, finishing with big, broad, lush, chocolatey tannins and outstanding persistence. This impressive, very powerful wine is great right now but has the stuffing to go on for years. (AG)

Another rating identical to that which was given in 2007 (when first tasted from bottle), the 2004 Harlan Estate is performing essentially the way I suggested in 2007 as it is one of the more precocious and accessible of the Harlan Estate wines to date. A great showing at this retrospective, this wine, which seems like a hypothetical blend of a Pauillac, St.-Estephe and Graves, represents around 1,500 cases from 40 acres of beautifully manicured hillside vineyards overlooking Oakville. Still dense purple to the rim, with notes of creme de cassis, charcoal, blackberry and sweet toast, the wine is full-bodied and voluptuously textured with the tannins largely resolved. But the density and richness suggest this wine can go a long, long way, even though the window for drinking it seems open and inviting already. A world-class, first-growth wine if there ever was one from Napa, this is simply an exquisite Harlan Estate that has atypically reached mid to late adolescence at the age of ten. That is great given the fact that these are 30- to 40-year wines – possibly even half-century wines. Drink it over the next 30 years. Tel. (707) 944-1441; Fax (707) 944-1444