2003 Harlan Estate

Founded in 1984 in the western hills of Oakville, Napa Valley, Harlan Estate is one of the fabled “Cult Cabs” that came of age in the 1990s. Along with such Cult Cabs as Screaming Eagle, Abreu, Araujo and Colgin, Harlan helped set the bar for extremely rich, complex and hard-to-acquire California Cabs. Harlan Estate founder William Harlan has said that part of his mission in founding the winery was “to create a first growth of California.” Robert M. Parker Jr. has written that Harlan wines possess “all the elements of greatness – individuality, power combined with elegance, extraordinary complexity, remarkable aging potential and compelling richness without ponderousness.” The estate’s 36 acres of vineyards are planted in Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. About 1,800 to 2,000 cases of Harlan Estate are produced annually. Also produced annually are 10,000 bottles of The Maiden, a Cabernet Sauvignon.

Napa Valley AVA is the most famous winemaking region in the United States and one of the most prestigious in the world. With nearly 43,000 acres of vineyards and more than 300 wineries, it is the heart of fine wine production in the United States. Winemaking started in Napa in 1838 when George C. Yount planted grapes and began producing wine commercially. Other winemaking pioneers followed in the late 19th century, including the founders of Charles Krug, Schramsberg, Inglenook and Beaulieu Vineyards. An infestation of phylloxera, an insect that attacks vine roots, and the onset of Prohibition nearly wiped out the nascent Napa wine industry in the early 20th century. But by the late 1950s and early 1960s Robert Mondavi and other visionaries were producing quality wines easily distinguishable from the mass-produced jug wines made in California’s Central Valley. Napa Valley’s AVA was established in 1983, and today there are 16 sub-appellations within the Napa Valley AVA. Many grapes grow well in Napa’s Mediterranean climate, but the region is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon. Chardonnay is also very successfully cultivated, and about 30% of the AVA’s acreage is planted to white grapes, with the majority of those grapes being Chardonnay,