2002 Harlan Estate 2013 Harlan Estate - Angry Wine Merchant 2013 Harlan Estate - Angry Wine Merchant
2002 Harlan Estate
2013 Harlan Estate - Angry Wine Merchant
2013 Harlan Estate - Angry Wine Merchant

2002 Harlan Estate

Red Bordeaux Blend

America / California / Napa Valley / Oakville

$3,690
RP 100
V 98
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Availability: 1

2002 Harlan Estate, Napa Valley, USA

Coming off a drier-than-normal winter, a somewhat early budbreak began April 1. Temperatures throughout spring and into the summer were erratic, with rain off and on through the end of May. Well-above-average temperatures alternated with lower-than-average daytime temperatures throughout most of the summer. Hot days in early September brought on a rapid onset of harvest. Temperatures moderated somewhat, then rose into the upper 90°s for several days in the third week of September and enabled ideal maturity. Harvest was short and sweet, spanning from September 16 to October 11. The hotter, shorter ripening period produced very concentrated, powerful, and exuberant wines. Average yield: 1.5 tons per acre.

Tasting Notes                                                                                                                      Deep, dark color—almost black. Classic cabernet sauvignon varietal nose, with notes of cedar, sage, mocha, black currant, smoke, and graphite. Shows explosive flavors of ripe fruit and earth notes with great density and complexity. Very dense, powerful, and rich. Backing up the ripe fruit flavors are uncommon layers of depth that keep going and going. This is an opulent vintage showing a super-ripe richness, fruit, and purity, as well as a finely honed texture. Noble tannins, flamboyant flavors, and an open-knit structure allow for both near-term enjoyment and the prospect of long-term aging. Hold 2-5 years and then drink for 30+ years.

RP 100

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The extraordinary Harlan Estate, which I awarded 100 points seven years ago, offers no justifiable reason to doubt its perfect score. It is still a baby, with an inky purple color and notes of smoky camphor intermixed with creme de cassis, Asian soy and a hint of cedar beginning to emerge as well as some espresso and subtle damp forest floor notes. The wine has awesome intensity, a full-bodied mouthfeel, a skyscraper-like texture, and a finish that goes on for close to a minute. This is a perfect wine, still youthful and young, and not even in full adolescence as of 2012. It has 40 or more years ahead of it, but should hit its plateau of full maturity in another 5-10 years. It is certainly one of the most showy , flamboyant and remarkable Harlan Estates made to date. (More recently, the 2007 tends to resemble this wine more than any other vintage I can think of.) Kudos to Bill Harlan! Reviewed by Robert M. Parker, Jr. Issue date: June 2012. Drinking window: N/A.
V 98

Vinous

(Rating 98+) Deep medium ruby. Knockout nose combines black raspberry, blackberry, candied violet, licorice pastille, black pepper and a suggestion of dusty earth. Like a liquid confection in the mouth: thick and sweet yet almost magically shapely and fresh. The longest, most inexorably palate-staining wine of my tour of the North Coast in early March: this lost no strength in my mouth after I had spit it. Damn near close to perfect wine; only my own refusal to give a perfect score to a wine that's still a decade or more short of its peak kept my score down. Bill Harlan, incidentally, compares the 2002 vintage to the 1995, which is showing spectacularly today (l was able to retaste the extraordinary 2001, which is perhaps even more classic than the 2002 if not quite as extravagantly thick, with slightly more roasted yet sappy aromas and flavors of crystallized berries, minerals, tar and licorice, and great inner-mouth energy and persistence. This very backward wine has the acid/tannin spine to evolve in bottle for 15 to 20 years. On my latest tasting I rated it 96(+?) Reviewed by Stephen Tanzer. Issue date: May 2005. Drinking window: N/A.

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  • CRITICAL REVIEWS
  • WINEMAKER NOTES
RP 100

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The extraordinary Harlan Estate, which I awarded 100 points seven years ago, offers no justifiable reason to doubt its perfect score. It is still a baby, with an inky purple color and notes of smoky camphor intermixed with creme de cassis, Asian soy and a hint of cedar beginning to emerge as well as some espresso and subtle damp forest floor notes. The wine has awesome intensity, a full-bodied mouthfeel, a skyscraper-like texture, and a finish that goes on for close to a minute. This is a perfect wine, still youthful and young, and not even in full adolescence as of 2012. It has 40 or more years ahead of it, but should hit its plateau of full maturity in another 5-10 years. It is certainly one of the most showy , flamboyant and remarkable Harlan Estates made to date. (More recently, the 2007 tends to resemble this wine more than any other vintage I can think of.) Kudos to Bill Harlan! Reviewed by Robert M. Parker, Jr. Issue date: June 2012. Drinking window: N/A.
V 98

Vinous

(Rating 98+) Deep medium ruby. Knockout nose combines black raspberry, blackberry, candied violet, licorice pastille, black pepper and a suggestion of dusty earth. Like a liquid confection in the mouth: thick and sweet yet almost magically shapely and fresh. The longest, most inexorably palate-staining wine of my tour of the North Coast in early March: this lost no strength in my mouth after I had spit it. Damn near close to perfect wine; only my own refusal to give a perfect score to a wine that's still a decade or more short of its peak kept my score down. Bill Harlan, incidentally, compares the 2002 vintage to the 1995, which is showing spectacularly today (l was able to retaste the extraordinary 2001, which is perhaps even more classic than the 2002 if not quite as extravagantly thick, with slightly more roasted yet sappy aromas and flavors of crystallized berries, minerals, tar and licorice, and great inner-mouth energy and persistence. This very backward wine has the acid/tannin spine to evolve in bottle for 15 to 20 years. On my latest tasting I rated it 96(+?) Reviewed by Stephen Tanzer. Issue date: May 2005. Drinking window: N/A.

2002 Harlan Estate, Napa Valley, USA

Coming off a drier-than-normal winter, a somewhat early budbreak began April 1. Temperatures throughout spring and into the summer were erratic, with rain off and on through the end of May. Well-above-average temperatures alternated with lower-than-average daytime temperatures throughout most of the summer. Hot days in early September brought on a rapid onset of harvest. Temperatures moderated somewhat, then rose into the upper 90°s for several days in the third week of September and enabled ideal maturity. Harvest was short and sweet, spanning from September 16 to October 11. The hotter, shorter ripening period produced very concentrated, powerful, and exuberant wines. Average yield: 1.5 tons per acre.

Tasting Notes                                                                                                                      Deep, dark color—almost black. Classic cabernet sauvignon varietal nose, with notes of cedar, sage, mocha, black currant, smoke, and graphite. Shows explosive flavors of ripe fruit and earth notes with great density and complexity. Very dense, powerful, and rich. Backing up the ripe fruit flavors are uncommon layers of depth that keep going and going. This is an opulent vintage showing a super-ripe richness, fruit, and purity, as well as a finely honed texture. Noble tannins, flamboyant flavors, and an open-knit structure allow for both near-term enjoyment and the prospect of long-term aging. Hold 2-5 years and then drink for 30+ years.

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