Honestly, Harlan’s portfolio has yet to disappoint me. Even the ‘off’ vintages are good. There’s a reason they do what they do and charge what they charge.
Did anyone buy the 2018 offer? Worth it?
$350/bottle now……
I’m passing. Love the promontory wine, but can’t justify the price for the penultimate. I tasted the 14 penultimate and it was ok, but the 14 promontory was much better. I’ll spend the 350 per bottle elsewhere.
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I love the Harlan wines but just how many $300+ labels do they plan on creating?
These days I pretty much opt for The Mascot and if I’m feeling spendy I’ll get The Matriarch.
I want to try this due to how well Promontory is spoken of here but I can get some really spectacular stuff under $300.
Would I really prefer one of these to three Mascots?
Promontory really is a special wine. They were pouring at last year’s NYWE, and got to drink some along with some Harlan that they also poured that weekend. Id say if you’ve got the budget for it, one year to try won’t hurt.
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Having had the opportunity to taste vintage against vintage of Promontory and Penultimate at the winery on two occasions, and having opened a couple of Penultimates (will have to look back at the vintages/notes) I feel like Penultimate is closer in quality to Promontory than Maiden or Matriarch are to Harlan/Bond.
The suggestions is the vines selected for Penultimate are the ones that are close but not yet ready for inclusion in Promontory, but I get the sense that whether that is true or not it is as much an R&D project to experiment and try things out. In general they are more approachable in their youth than I have found Promontory to be in most vintages, but demonstrate some really interesting tasting profiles that we have enjoyed. In fact, in tasting the 17s side by side, we preferred the Penultimate at this stage (the 2017 Promontory is a shy wine that took most of the tasting to start to open at all, really tight tannins.)
While price point may make this a tough sell for many (and I get it, for half that price there are many outstanding Napa offerings), I would suggest that if you are of the mind to buy Maiden or Matriarch then this should be an easy choice to acquire.
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Just grab a single bottle of Promontory and enjoy it. If it blows you away, you can prioritize it for future purchases at the expense of other less impressive wines and if not then you got to enjoy a single bottle and get to feel good about passing on it every year.
The purity of fruit on Promontory is pretty striking the one time I tried it. It’s ripe without being confected and there’s a mineral-y streak cutting through that balances nicely.
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2019 Penultimate offer just came through, $375 a bottle. Anybody thinking of pulling the trigger? First time we got an offer.
Got the offer too. $375 a bottle for penultimate and $700 a bottle for Promontory. Easy pass! More for others!!!
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No doubt there
New to the Harlan Family – is there a chance that passing on Penultimate could push us down/off the waitlist for Promontory proper? Would it even spread across the portfolio and make it tougher to get hands on Harlan Estate/Maiden or Bond?
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It was $800/bottle (hard pass)
3 bottle min. for the Promontory
If you want and can afford it. They will sell it to you. There is no wait list for any of the Harlan portfolio. Only pre requirement is a fat credit card. Haha.
I only buy The Mascot and Matriarch.
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I was just gifted a 2012 Promontory Penultimate.
Anyone had this one (their inaugural release) or have thoughts on it?
I’ve never had a Promontory, but the person who gave this me is a big Promontory (and Harlan) fan and thinks very highly of this vintage of Penultimate.
Had 2012 Penultimate during a tasting at the winery last year. It was a standout in the group and in a fun blind tasting they did with us was voted the unanimous favorite ahead of 2011 and 2014 Promontory. For what it’s worth I think the flagship probably needs more time in the bottle to show well.
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Thanks Jordan. Great to hear.
Sounds like it’s ready to go, or do you think a bit more time in the bottle will improve the 2012 Penultimate?
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I think you have very generous and wealthy friends?
I thought it was ready to drink! The people at Promontory stated they shoot for Penultimate being approachable at much younger ages.
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