So 1 Harlan costs the same as 4 Schraders!!! ![[swoon.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/f425e8dac3e7344bee264da02e55428971be23a9.gif "swoon"){kind=small}
I also quit at $350.00…
I quit maybe 3 years ago. Can’t remember where the price was but couldn’t justify the price. Good for them if they can sell out. But I keep getting offers and I haven’t bought for quite some time.
JD
Not a fan of the pay now and get it two years later. I could be dead in two years. But the $700 is insane.
Not to mention the issue with the 1997’s and how many of them turned out very poorly after bottling. But in any event, I can’t justify $700 for a wine that won’t be delivered for two years, and which still requires much extended cellaring after that.
Bruce
Was the issue with 97s related to the vintage itself or production problems?
Oh boy…
The issue with the '97s was volatile acidity. Some bottles were worse than others. It came to a head for me at an event Parker hosted at Charleston restaurant in Baltimore for about 40 or 50 or so of the board regulars. It was a BYO Paulee kind of thing. Jim Clary and I both brought bottles of '97 Harlan, figuring no better way to nail down the perception issue than tasting out of the same bottle as Bob. I had tastes from both bottles. One was clearly better than the other. I recall Bob tasting from the one that several of us thought marred by VA and declaring that it was still a 100-point wine.
That sounds a lot worse reading it than it was. It was all in good spirit, everyone was having a great time and probably just enough wine to be well beyond serious. I think Bob even paid for the whole thing and brought some great wines himself.
To “see what the fuss was about” I got a few bottles of The Maiden at auction. Have had 01 and 04. Each were about $100. Maybe $130 after all was said and done.
Overripe dreck. Barely drinkable. Cloyingly sweet, overextracted, and yet somehow still thin. Not a bad wine. Just diametrically opposed to all I like in good wine and overpriced at that price. I can’t imagine buying it at twice that.
Oddly, have had a much better impression of both Bond and Matriarch. I’m not jealous of those that can afford Harlan - I’m as curious as any wine lover would be about the famous name. But my experience of the second wine has not been positive…
The “issue” is that the prevailing opinion is different wine was bottled in 750 -vs- magnum format. I got a PM as such from a bottling line worker back in the day on EBOB. When called on it, Bob attacked all comers and said they could not think outside the box, blah, blah, blah…
I was disinvited from his annual charity event in Napa at Press. Bryan Flannery personally asked me to attend and be a guest cook in the back. Bob heard about it and would not have it based on me calling out the whole Harlan '97 mess. Pretty f*cking petty for a big dollar charity event.
And, that is what got me banned for good by Squirrel Nutz.
That sucks Bill. I’d never heard the details of the charity event.
It wasn’t just the magnums that had variable degrees of VA. Some of the 750s were also affected. The bottles we drank at the Baltimore dinner were 750s.
No. They have the right to price it at whatever they choose and I have the right to spend my money on whatever wine I choose to buy. As the professor of economics pointed out above - it’s a consumer’s choice. One Harlan or four Schraders (actually, it’s more like 3 Schraders). Or one Harlan versus 20+ Terceros. Freedom of choice. For me, spending my money on the Harlan is ridiculous, but a lot of people think me spending my money on Schrader is ridiculous. And believe me, there are plenty of people in my office who think that me paying the outrageous price commanded by Tercero is ridiculous. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Mags had no VA.
And to repeat the story that I’ve mentioned before, I had posted TN’s on eBob on a “bad” bottle of the 97 Harlan. The powers that be ordered my tasting note removed.
Also, as I recall, when it was suggested on eBob that there was major bottle variation in the 97 Harlan, Parker speculated that the bad/VA bottles were due to poor storage. So the consumers were to blame…
Bruce
I just barrel tasted some 2013 Diamond Creek and including the Lake. The Lake is 500 but the others are around 225. Can’t imagine Harlan is that much better. The DC was singing.
Gotcha. Thanks. Tracks with my experience. I had only 1 mag and it was perfect. Two of my six 750s had obviously more VA than the others. Not sure why it was so varied from bottle to bottle.
My recollection was that people at the time said (or speculated) that something happened in the bottling process to some of the bottles. Whatever the cause, there is pretty massive bottle variation in the 1997’s, at least from 750’s. Some bottles apparently are wonderful; some are clearly VA/EA affected.
Bruce
.
Just got a funny follow-up e-mail from them:
We experienced intermittent technical issues with our website early in the offering of the 2013 Harlan Estate and the 2012 vintage of The Maiden. These complications have since been addressed, and you may now access the website.
We sincerely apologize if you have encountered any difficulties accessing the website or placing an order. Please rest assured that your priority consideration will be honored.
Should you have any questions please contact us at 707.944.1441 or lisa@harlanestate.com
We remain at your service, thank you for your patience and understanding.
Based on the common theme of the comments on this post, I wonder if “intermittent technical issues” is code for “nobody is ordering.”
Wine Specator lists case production ranging from 1400 to 1900 cases the last few years.
I don’t think it would be easy to get an answer to the second question. My guess is no, but I don’t work for the Harlans.