I just purchased this plus 4 other vineyard designates. I am wrapping CLONYC 48 around it. Seats filled in 6 hours. Tentative December 16th. Should be fun.
Mayacamas is a pretty poor guess, they are in Mt. Veeder to start and never sell for $200-250.
Can’t sort out why everyone ignores the OP and the COLA that it comes from Harlan…which Harlan project would be the question. I’d bet Napa Valley Reserve is a solid guess.
There is second COLA up with Lot 2012 listed as fanciful name. Yes, the vertical pack COLA was done by Harlan (Lot 2006). None of the changes on the label/wine through Lot 2011 necessitate a new COLA so presumably they all were labeled by Harlan. Most likely a different brand Harlan purchased and wanted to clear out old wine not associated with their future plan. Since this all happened “quietly” I doubt many people know about which other wine was involved. NVR and Mascot (maybe Maiden) are decent guesses. Harlan does also source fruit so “estate” could also mean any long-term contract vineyard and not Harlan or Bond fruit. Seems rather sloppy they put Harlan on CH COLA if they used him for his discretion. Either I’m sure Cameron has been following this thread with a big smile on his face…
Why insinuate that a winery can hide selling finished alcohol to another entity…do you think it’s legal to sell it anonymously? The government tracks every transaction for tax purposes.
The guessing game is certainly entertaining, but think for a minute. The deeper this board digs, the more difficult (marginally) it will be for Cam to come up with these (and other) cherries. The disincentives grow for the next winery looking to move juice.
Let it go and enjoy the wine. We’ll all be better off. Sorta like Fight Club and B*rn’s.
Yes, wineries do it all the time!! Apart from knowing Harlan applied for the COLA and the juice is at least 75% from Napa Valley we know nothing else about wine for a FACT. We can trust CH, but that still does not necessarily mean the wine was produced by Harlan (or any of its subsidiary wineries). The team at Harlan knows how to get rid of excess wine without the public knowing that it is selling for 1/10 the price in a different label. Ttb does not track where grapes or bulk wine comes from, but wineries are required to keep records in case of an audit. I can’t speak to CA law, but volume and appellation are the things tracked so excise tax and COLAs can be verified.