Chris - whatever decisions you make about Harlan, when I was 22 I was just discovering that Red Tail Ale was vastly more interesting than Miller Genuine Draft, so you’re way ahead of the curve.
Scott - I also had a '94 Harlan recently, and while I really liked it I don’t know that it was better than the bottle I had about 10 years ago. Will it last decades? I’m betting it will. Will it ever be better than around year 10? Not so sure about that.
Harlan is great wine that lasts. Just had the 1990 a month ago – and it is still great. If you want to try Harlan, my favorites are 1994 and 2001. If you can afford it, you might as well spend the money to get one with some age and see how you like it.
I also like some of the classics mentioned – La Chapelle, Hermitage, La’La’s, Ridge, Heitz, Dunn, etc. – but they are quite different than Harlan. Harlan is a first growth of Napa and while it is super expensive, it holds its value and is quite comparable to good Bordeaux (which I also like).
Harlan is great wine that lasts. Just had the 1990 a month ago – and it is still great. If you want to try Harlan, my favorites are 1994 and 2001. If you can afford it, you might as well spend the money to get one with some age and see how you like it.
I also like some of the classics mentioned – La Chapelle, Hermitage, La’La’s, Ridge, Heitz, Dunn, etc. – but they are quite different than Harlan. Harlan is a first growth of Napa and while it is super expensive, it holds its value and is quite comparable to good Bordeaux (which I also like).
Someone famous (Warren Buffet?) said “Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.” I quit Harlan in 2005 when it hit $450. Lovely wine, but the value was no longer there.
Got a letter from Harlan offering bottles for 750 that I would not get until 2019. Just couldn’t do it.
Also, if you like California large style wines, check out Washington, the cabs and Syrahs often times are a lot cheaper and might just open up your domestic cellar…
Just curious, but, why would you say that, if you have not tasted the wine?
I have tasted 91, 92, 94, 95 and 96 semi recently, and all those vintages remain vibrant, stunning examples of California Cabernet Sauvignon.
The wine is expensive, for sure. But that’s something the buyer or seller can navigate. But the wines are just extraordinary examples of Cabernet.
Chris, it depends on the vintage. Also, Harlan produces much less wine. You cannot compare the wines like that, as each offers a completely different profile.
I have had several Harlan’s with 15 years of age and found them excellent. Personal preference if looking at this winery are the Bond wines (Melbury, Vencina and St Eden being older wines). I feel these are not ready to start drinking until after 10+ years. Cheaper than Harlan Estate and in many cases it might be a better.
I am 44 years old, and I started actively collecting and tasting wine when I was 21 (with occasional sips prior to that from Dad’s cellar when he opened nice bottles.) For most of these past 23 years in the hobby, I have been involved in at least one active wine forum online. This is the first time I have ever felt like I was writing a post to myself 20 years ago.
Welcome to the world of wine. I hope in 20 years you can look back as fondly as I can- and with a strong knowledge base.
If I may, I would like to offer you some advice- the advice I took long ago- and advice that many on the internet forums disagreed with. But it has made all the difference in my own experience and knowledge.
Taste everything you find interesting. I do not care if it is “too young” or “too expensive”- taste, taste, taste. I started tasting wine my senior year in college. By the time I finished grad school 3 years later, I had several hundred tasting notes including all of the first growths from multiple vintages, Petrus, DRC, every Shafer Hillside made to date at the time, Clos St. Hune, Niellon, Ramonet, Leroy, Roumier, Dominus, Dom Perignon and countless more.
I had no idea what I was doing- but you have to start somewhere, and if- as it seems to be- you have the economic fortune to be able to taste the big guns now- go for it. Always along the way taste some less expensive wines as well, but if your long term goal is to collect in the top echelon, then start drinking them- and also some others too since you may be amazed what less expensive wines you find you really love and which are of a far higher quality than market prices might suggest (Chateau Magdelaine is the largest holding in my cellar these days, not Lafite.)
More importantly- there is the time factor. You are very fortunate to start collecting in your early 20s. By the time you are 40 you can have nearly 20 years of tasting experience- including revisiting the same wine every few years, or even better revisiting the same wine in several vintages every few years, and then you will have a level of experience and knowledge of your personal preferences that very few people will ever have. Plus, God willing, you will have another 30+ years of life to build on that experience, targeting your purchases to what you know you will like.
Back to the Harlan- you are obviously interested in the wine. I say don’t buy the Maiden- buy an older Harlan. If you can afford to buy the mailing list allocation every year potentially, why not go ahead and spend a fraction of 10 years on the mailing list now on a 5-10 year old vintage of Harlan itself rather than saving a few hundred dollars to try the Maiden? That is the cost consideration I would suggest for you- think about what an investment over 10 years in the Harlan mailing list means financially, and then (in my mind anyway) it is easy to justify stepping up to the plate and going all in.
Also- as you taste, taste, taste, right now you have 2012 in CA and 2014 in Bordeaux in the marketplace. Both very approachable and giving vintages of good quality, and also reasonably priced. These are treasure troves for your early tasting experience, and for many of us (myself included) these are the sorts of vintages we buy most heavily after years of experience. Either way- great vintages to cut your teeth on.
Two other suggestions- again if I may do so- that I wish I had tried earlier in life,
Pick a wine you like and buy 5 bottles- any wine, it does not have to be special or ageworthy. Open one every few days in a completely different setting. Have one at lunch perhaps. Open one without food. Open one with a heavy dinner. Have one at a restaurant with lots of other people. Have one in a more quiet setting where you can concentrate. Make detailed notes of each tasting and compare them later.
Pick a solid midrange wine to cellar (Leoville Barton or Chateau Montelena are good choices) and start cellaring a case or two ever year now. In the first 5 years, open one every year. Thereafter, open them periodically as you please.
Those two exercises will teach you a great deal. And always take good notes and keep them. Even if it is a $10 wine at a cheap restaurant- make a note. It will help get the knowledge stuck in your head- and one day you will wake up and realize all the good information you have stored in your head (and on paper- or CellarTracker.)
Apologies for rambling a bit- it is just so cool to finally find someone after all these years who is getting started as young as I did, and ready and eager to get right to the best wine has to offer.
Great post!
Wow, Tom. That’s great advice. Thanks for posting.
My own experience with Harlan is that it is a great wine, with relatively little variation from vintage to vintage. The wine is, even in badly off vintages (like 98 or 03), still pretty damn good. And the experience is really nice. Bill sends you nice seasonal notes, the occasional book, and some darn purdy labels on sturdy bottles in couture like boxes.
Problem is, cost. I, personally, cannot justify the scratch when I can buy, for example, Monte Bello, Spottswoode, and many others of nearly equal quality for a significant fraction. I stopped buying when the price went $400 something. At the time, I called Don Weaver, the manager at the time (he still may be there), to complain…basically asking whether he was pricing his wine to be drunk or flipped. His response on the severe price hikes was something like: sorry, that’s all Bill’s doing; he thinks he makes the best wine (not just in California but in the world) and he wants to charge the most for it. So I got out of that vanity race, particularly while he was chasing the scam price that was hucked by Charles Banks at Screaming Eagle.
Having said all that, yes, if my resources were unlimited or nearly so, it would be my house red. It is really good.
Start with The Mascot, which runs $100 and is young Harlan fruit. The 2012 vintage was awesome and good QPR. I suspect the 2013 vintage (offered in the Fall) will be even better.
Tom, I know this is a somewhat old thread, but I stumbled upon it because I just picked up my first bottle of Harlan. But I am 23 and in the same situation as you and Chris were, and I just wanted to tell you that I really appreciate your advice/suggestions.
That was a great post by Tom. If you’re in your early 20s and not yet career bound, the dining industry is a good place to learn and not have to pay for the education. I worked at a super high end place for years before settling in my industry, and guests offered me tastes of stuff I’d never have access to or afford, including Harlan, Screaming Eagle, 1st growths, burgs, and some very very old wines. Well before I was 30 I had about 6 cases of what would be prime aged wine now (lots of high end Napa cabs, SQN, etc). I should probably regret but don’t - before moving out, in a matter of a few months, drank it all with my roommates, snuck bottles into movie theaters in a backpack, many times drinking out of bucket glasses (or straight from the bottle!) during movie nights at home with the GF.
I went to a cult cab tasting at the California Wine Experience in 2006 and without a doubt the 04 Harlan was the best - and back then the release price was $375, only Screagle was more. I could understand the premium price though I ended up buying my second favorite wine which was the 04 Lewis (for $75).
But that was 16 years ago. Since then, many of the producers already mentioned in this thread have come on the scene and I think they more than stand up to Harlan. I have several friends who were on the list and all dropped because of the cost and the emergence of comparable wines, like Schrader, for hundreds of dollars less.
Really, if you want cab that will be in its drinking window in 20 years, you should be buying left bank Bordeaux. Much better QPR. And you can find old Bordeaux at reasonable prices so you can see how it ages. Léoville Barton and Lynch Bages are two of my favorites.