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'Potential beyond anything we have done before'

Promontory
The First UK Release from the Harlan Family
 
Bill Harlan is the trailblazer behind California’s famed Harlan Estate, one of Napa’s original cult Cabernets where quality, status and rarity combine. In the US, the clamour for these wines means that it can take a decade to get onto their mailing list and in Europe, they are rarely seen.
 
In 2008, after many years of hopeful readiness, the Harlan family finally acquired a unique parcel of land that Bill first discovered hiking a ridge trail in the heart of Napa Cabernet country.  A few hundred metres south of Harlan Estate but at a higher elevation, they named it Promontory, a point of land that juts out, overlooking a small valley below.
 
First planted in the eighties, the “Territory” as they call it, is unlike any other vineyard.  An adventurous place, where only 10% of it is planted, in small steep blocks surrounded by wilderness where two fault lines cross (making for a fascinatingly complex terroir geologically).  Surprisingly it is in fact very close to the heart of Napa - nearby neighbours including of course Harlan Estate and BOND, with Dominus and Martha’s Vineyard to the south -  but mountains lions, bobcats, bears and mountain lions roam here.  “It’s a place where you feel thousands of miles away from the rest of Napa”, says Will Harlan, son of Bill.
 
“there is something about the mountain style of these vineyards (500- to 1,100-foot elevation) that have produced a rugged, muscular, primordial wine somewhat reminiscent of La Mission-Haut-Brion, just bigger and denser.”
Robert Parker
  
Promontory is now released for the first time outside the US market and Albany Vintners is delighted to be amongst the small group of preferred merchants in the UK to offer the 2012 vintage.  Production is tiny and quantities are very limited.  Contact us to enquire or register your interest.  
 
PROMONTORY 2012, Napa Valley              £1395 per case 3x75
A late-ripening terroir, benefitting from the cool nights and morning mists from the San Francisco Bay and Mayacama mountain influences, which ensure even slow ripening without elevated sugar levels.  Tasting the 2012 last week, it shows the beautiful ripeness of the vintage, with intense but well-delineated black fruit, notes of tobacco and cocoa, and deep minerality behind.  Predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon with a little Malbec and Petit Verdot. Bold but very suave tannins but balanced with a long, seamless finish, the 2012 will be long-lived.  A gorgeous wine for the long term, and the start of a great journey. 
 
"I think this estate hits its stride with the 2012 and 2013. This estate, owned by Bill Harlan, is intent on releasing its wines only after about five years, which means after two years in barrel and three years in bottle. The estate vineyard is about 500-feet higher in elevation than Harlan Estate, but when you see it on an aerial map, it has its own micro-climate, as it is sandwiched between two rather high ridge lines, and the soils are all sedimentary clay, shale and schist, all of volcanic origin. This is an impressive newcomer to the Napa scene, and obviously with the lavish and fastidious attention to detail in all aspects of viticulture and winemaking, Promontory looks to be another brilliant effort from Bill Harlan"
Robert Parker, October 2015
 
Wine available April 2018.  Wines offered IB (In Bond, excluding duty and VAT). 
Offer subject to final confirmation. E&OE.