harlan estate cabernet
Harlan Estate makes an average 2,000 cases of wine per year.
(Image credit: Bon Appetit / Alamy)

See which Harlan Estate wines William Kelley rates as good buys for the cellar and for drinking following his 12-vintage vertical tasting of this 'cult' Napa producer.

Harlan Estate wines: What you need to know

Harlan Estate, Napa Valley, California, USA, 1995

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The 1995 Harlan Estate is a massive, luscious wine, laden with blackberry fruit, mocha and more evolved aromas of plums and cedar. This packs quite...

1995

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Harlan Estate, Napa Valley, California, USA, 1996

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Aromas of ripe plum, cassis, tar, woodsmoke, cocoa powder and espresso roast introduce a powerful, fine-grained wine with a chassis of richly extracted tannin, underpinned...

1996

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Harlan Estate, Napa Valley, California, USA, 1997

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Ample rain fell during winter, leading to an early bud break in late March. From May through September, temperatures hovered between 26°C and 32°C, only...

1997

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Harlan Estate, Napa Valley, California, USA, 1999

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The 1999 Harlan Estate is particularly aromatically expressive, offering up vivid aromas of blackberry and violets intermingled with mature tones of cedar and scorched earth....

1999

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Harlan Estate, Napa Valley, California, USA, 2000

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The 2000 Harlan Estate, a wine uncannily reminiscent of a 1990 Médoc, is at what seems to be a peak - or a plateau -...

2000

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Harlan Estate, Napa Valley, California, USA 2001

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By the 2001 vintage, the vines at Harlan Estate were entering their 17th year of life and adapting to the method of dry farming that...

2001

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Harlan Estate, Napa Valley, California, USA, 2003

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The 2003 ranks as one of the less successful Harlan Estates of the last decade, with a bouquet of ripe blackberry that struggles to contain...

2003

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Harlan Estate, Napa Valley, California, USA, 2005

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At Harlan Estate, ask Will Harlan himself what the aim is with each, and the answer he’ll give is simple and even expected from this...

2005

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Harlan Estate, Napa Valley, Oakville, California, USA, 2009

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The 2009 Harlan Estate is texturally more accessible than the 2010, and its sweet attack is beguilingly immediate. In its bouquet, notions of ripe red...

2009

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Harlan Estate, Napa Valley, Oakville, California, USA, 2010

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The 2010 Harlan Estate exhibits an attractively vibrant and detailed bouquet of graphite, cigar and a melange of ripe black fruits. A strikingly concentrated, dense...

2010

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Harlan Estate, Napa Valley, Oakville, California, USA, 2013

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Alluring aromas of juicy mulberry, black raspberry, graphite, dried herbs and rich cigar tobacco introduce a large-scaled wine framed by an ample and refined tannic...

2013

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Harlan Estate, Napa Valley, Oakville, California, USA, 2014

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Aromas of red and black fruit, rich spice, cocoa powder and Harlan's signature of baked earth and dried herbs. The 2014 is a rich, layered...

2014

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William Kelley
Decanter Magazine, Decanter Premium, Burgundy & North America Expert

William Kelley is a wine critic who specialises in Burgundy and the US. He became Decanter’s North America correspondent in 2015 and also reviewed the 2015/2016 Burgundy vintages.

In addition, he has contributed to other publications such as Noble Rot and he currently reviews Burgundy, California and Washington State wines for The Wine Advocate.

In 2016 and 2017 he was shortlisted for the Emerging Wine Writer of the Year Award.