Harlan vs BOND

How does Bond stack up compared to Harlan in quality? Where does Promontory and Napa Valley Reserve fall compared to these? Do the Other 3 hold up quality wise for the price, or do they all fall victim to price inflation because of the name?

I’ve only tried Promontory… However it is by far my favorite wine compared to other hard hitters like Bryant, Eisele, Phelps, Continuum, etc.

Harlan is a slight step up from the rest of the Bond offerings, although Veccina is a tiny step behind it.

Start with the Mascot and work your way up. They are all priced in order of perceived quality.

2005 bonds are fantastic and can still be bought in the $250 range.

Have 3 Mascots in my cellar and popped one not long ago. Not my thing. To me, the Napa MO of “22 months on french new oak” and picked ripe makes every single wine there taste pretty much exactly the same. I don’t see a lot of variation.

Wow did you edit quickly before I got what you wrote previously which was, well, absurd. Hence why you edited I assume.

There is a style to the wines that is similar but saying something akin to them all being the same regardless of price is ridiculous.

It’s in vogue to hate on Harlan’s style post Parker namely on this board.

I enjoy all of them, for different reasons. They are all exceptionally well made wines, and you can’t go wrong if your financial situation allows you to try them. I did drop off the Bond list only because I am on too many mailing lists and I figured four Harlan projects might be a bit too much, bit I still love their wines.

Just Friday evening we did a small charity tasting at our house that included a flight of Napa cult cabs. The mags of the 01 and 07 Harlan were sublime and huge hits. The 09 Promontory is still a little too tightly wound, but you could see the potential to rival anything that we opened.

The Napa Valley Reserve is a private club, and hence the wines are not available to purchase. You can find them on occasion in a charity auction. They rival their commercial siblings in quality in my opinion.

It’s the man’s preference, Joseph. I’m not sure what’s wrong with that. You clearly disagree, but I don’t think saying that his perception of “sameness” is ridiculous is warranted.

I’m not sure drinking a Mascot on release when it’s most likely shut down would be comparable to drinking a Harlan or Bond that had been cellared 10-15 years.

I agree with Ken, Bond and Harlan should not be touched for years. Over the past couple years I have had '99, '00, '01 and '03 Bonds and they all where drinking beautifully, all holding the fruit with secondary characteristics coming through. I cannot comment of Mascot as I have not had those before, but if they are made in the same style then hold.

2012 Mascot wasn’t ready about a year ago. Not even close, and the same with the 2010 Maiden, though my first Maiden from the late 90s or early 00s was awesome only a few years after release.

Interesting, the 2012 Mascot must have shutdown. I tried it on release and it was fantastic, totally open and very pretty. Unfortunately, when I tried the 2013 in the same frame the next year I couldn’t even finish the bottle over a couple days, it never opened. 2013 is going to be long-lived vintage in Napa, especially for Harlan.

That is interesting. The Maiden I had several years ago was also just after release. I’ll hold onto the 13 Mascot as well. Thanks for that note.

I was a bit too categoric in my posting. They are of course not all the same and I would love to try an aged Harlan, Bond, Screagle, Scarecrow etc. But, I suspect, that they might not play to my preference at this time. But preferences change.

It’s why I got so excited about Ketan Moody’s Beta release - at least on paper it feels like Napa trying to reinvent. I hope they’re great!

I’m a HUGE, HUGE Harlan fan. Frankly, I think it’s the only wine among it’s peers that is worth it’s price. One of my friends has regularly opened Harlan among the top wines of Bordeaux, and Harlan is still undefeated.

Bond I’ve had much less success with though. Early vintages are too boozy for me. I’d be curious to try 2010 and forward since that was around the time that I think Harlan took a huge step forward.

I’m actually really curious to try Promontory though. That one seems promising based on Galloni’s notes that I’ve read.

I was cleaning out some random boxes a day or so ago, and found one filled with wine corks from 2009-2013 consumption era. One of them was a 2002 Matriarch and just holding it brought back a flashback of having that. It was such a beautiful, opulent wine.

Tend to agree. Harlan is for the wine friends and Bond is for the good (let’s be serious, great) friends that want to drink cult cab, but it’s more crowd pleasing in style IMO. Bond, Schrader and Colgin are, for me, reliable crowd pleasers among cult cabs. Harlan, Abreu, and Eisele (and of course the older stuff) is what I drink with my “wine friends.”

Sigh.

They are both overpriced! Would not buy either at that price point. If I made $1,000,000 plus a year maybe I would change my tune.