Proprietory Red 2013

The best wine so far (although I suspect the 2015 may ultimately enter the picture as well) is the nearly perfect 2013 Promontory Estate. It is simply richer and fuller, with greater integration of tannin, and tastes spectacular. With an opaque, dense purple color and notes of graphite, wet rocks, blackberry and blueberry fruit, some charcoal, and again, loads of spice and loamy soil nuances, the wine has great intensity, a full-bodied texture, and finely grained, sweet tannin. This is a stunner and again, accessible, but its best days are probably a good decade away, as this could very well turn out to be a 40- to 50-year wine. This 80-acre estate with 35 acres of vineyards high in the Mayacamas Mountains south of the Harlan Estate is another Cabernet Sauvignon project from Bill Harlan. It is hard to think of anything in Napa Valley as unexplored, pure wilderness, but Promontory Estate qualifies. I saw these wines last year, and now I’ve gotten the chance to see both the 2012 and 2013 again, and they are both even better than I had predicted when I tasted them last year. They are nearly all Cabernet Sauvignon with touches of Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot in them, and probably the best way to compare them to the wines of Harlan Estate or the Bond single-vineyard projects is to describe them as more like a Napa version of a great St-Estèphe such as Château Montrose thanks to their spicy, earthy characteristics, although I’m not suggesting there is any of the rusticity that one might expect from these mountain terroirs.

Score: 99

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate, RobertParker.com Maturity: 2016-2066 28 October 2016