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Harlan Estate: Secrets behind its vine-by-vine approach

Harlan Estate needs no introduction to wine lovers. But apart from its cult status, how many people know what goes on under the ground, within the vineyard, and, yes, in the data banks? Decanter's Napa Valley correspondent Jonathan Cristaldi meets director of winegrowing Cory Empting for a scientific, indepth look into the secrets behind the estate's success.

The horseshoe-shaped Harlan Estate encompasses two steep hillside ridge lines in the shadow of the Mayacamas mountains in California‘s Napa Valley. Facing east, the landscape reveals a great panorama of the Oakville AVA, with Rutherford and St Helena to the north and Yountville to the south.

Peering across a deep valley cut by a fault line, the western benches come into view between black, blue and valley oaks. To the southwest, the Harlan family home sits atop a high bluff keeping watch over it all.


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