Notes:
The Napa Valley Reserve is an ultra-exclusive private wine club founded by William Harlan of Harlan Estate and Bond. Members include many prominent celebrities and politicians.
Membership costs over $150,000 and members are invited to join lavish dinners, and enjoy the wine-making process.
Members must also purchase an allotment of wine each year, and this wine is not allowed to be resold by its members for risk of losing membership privileges.
This is why you never see these bottles come up for sale.
The wine is spectacular, designed for consumption by the worlds most discerning tastes. The quality of Napa Valley Reserve is equivalent to Harlan Estate in anyone’s opinion who’s tried it.
The blend is Bordeaux in style, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and possibly Cabernet Franc.
How good is this bottle of wine you may ask? Well it’s made just the same as Harlan Estate. Same wine maker, same equipment, same style. So its safe to assume it will be as good or very close. For much much less money and a higher rarity! I’ve tried this wine and it is amazing!
For reference, the 2004 Harlan Estate was 98 Points Robert Parker. Here is the tasting note from the 2004 Harlan:
Another rating identical to that which was given in 2007 (when first tasted from bottle), the 2004 Harlan Estate is performing essentially the way I suggested in 2007 as it is one of the more precocious and accessible of the Harlan Estate wines to date. A great showing at this retrospective, this wine, which seems like a hypothetical blend of a Pauillac, St.-Estephe and Graves, represents around 1,500 cases from 40 acres of beautifully manicured hillside vineyards overlooking Oakville. Still dense purple to the rim, with notes of creme de cassis, charcoal, blackberry and sweet toast, the wine is full-bodied and voluptuously textured with the tannins largely resolved. But the density and richness suggest this wine can go a long, long way, even though the window for drinking it seems open and inviting already. A world-class, first-growth wine if there ever was one from Napa, this is simply an exquisite Harlan Estate that has atypically reached mid to late adolescence at the age of ten. That is great given the fact that these are 30- to 40-year wines – possibly even half-century wines. Drink it over the next 30 years. (RP)
Bottle Size:
750mL
Storage History:
Stored on it’s side in a climate controlled cellar since purchase.
Condition:
Perfect.
