2016 Promontory - Napa Valley - 1 Flasche (0,75 l)

OWC sealed never been opened from excellent cellar!

Promontory is a high-profile Napa Valley winery producing a single red wine under the main label from Cabernet Sauvignon vines growing on Oakville's southwestern ridge. It is one of the highest priced wines made in California.

The 840 acre (340 hectare) property, hidden from view and isolated from other vineyards in the region, was purchased by the Harlan family in 2008. H. William Harlan had discovered it in the early 1980s while hiking the ridge but had been unable to acquire it. The fruit had previously been sold to other wineries. There are now around 80 acres of vines split across numerous plots.

Though only one Promontory Cabernet Sauvignon wine is made, it is a complex blend. Because of the variations of soil, exposure and elevation, up to 70 different passes are made through the vineyard to pick fruit in optimum condition. This results in 30 or more distinct component wines being made and aged in barrel for a year before blending. The blended wine is then further aged for several years in large European oak casks. It is released five years after harvest.

The winery was opened in 2017. It combines industrial practicality with large spaces designed to host visitors and events. This is in contrast to the less accessible nature of the production facilities of Harlan Estate and BOND, the other labels owned by the family. For more information see our 2017 feature by W. Blake Gray.

This separate label denotes, in the words of Will Harlan, a wine made from blocks that haven't quite reached the fully realized vision required for Promontory. It is nevertheless, in its own right, a well-structured wine combining power and finesse.