Reviews & Scores
This is fully loaded, with waves of dense yet succulent blackberry, black currant and fig preserves that move along steadily, pulling roasted apple wood, dark bay leaf, espresso cream and humus notes along. A bolt of cast iron emerges through the finish, remaining well-encased in the fruit and adding prodigious length and stability. A fairly tremendous wine, especially considering the vintage.
WS97October 2021
One of the more logistically challenging harvests in recent history, the Harlan team has put together a pure, precise and opulent showing of their benchmark wine. The nose straddles dense aromas of black fruits and new French oak with a spry, energetic, floral quality. The palate overflows with concentrated black fruits, fresh herbs and dried flowers, leading to a tense, upright and firm finish. Harlan's perennial polish and seamlessness are on display throughout.
DC97March 2021
The Grand Vin is the 2017 Harlan Estate, and this beauty just about jumps from the glass with its pure cassis and blackcurrant fruits as well as notes of tobacco, graphite, crushed stone, and spice. With a full-bodied, expansive mouthfeel, building, velvety tannins, and a layered, seamless style that offers way more pleasure than just about every other wine in the vintage, bottles can be enjoyed any time over the coming 20-25 years.
JD97January 2021
The 2017 Harlan Estate is superb. Deep, inky and wonderfully expressive, the 2017 is impeccably rendered. All the elements come together effortlessly. The nervous tannins of the vintage are evident, but there is also plenty of sumptuousness. Time in the glass brings out a whole range of red-toned fruit and floral notes that are surprising for a year with massive heat spike. The 2017 is polished and sophisticated to the core. In a word: impressive.
VM96January 2021
Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2017 Harlan Estate needs a little coaxing to reveal captivating iron ore, red currant jelly, cloves and crushed rocks scents with a core of warm cassis, Black Forest cake and boysenberries plus a waft of pencil lead. Medium to full-bodied, it has a firm, grainy texture with a lively backbone and loads of earthy layers, long and mineral laced. This should be one of the longer-lived wines coming out of the 2017 vintage.
WA97January 2021
Love the sage and mint undertones with currants and berries. Some lead pencil. Iodine. Medium to full body and very fine tannins. Lovely freshness. It’s a refined and gorgeous Harlan. Savory. Beautiful finish. Drinkable now, but better in 2022.
JS97January 2020