2013 Promontory, Napa Valley, California, USA
Critics reviews
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
About this WINE
Promontory
Owned by the Harlan family of Harlan Estate, Promontory lies on one of the unique sites in Oakville and represents the next step in Bill Harlan’s plan to establish a wine dynasty in California. Its wines are some of the most sought-after in the world and perfectly represent the power and potential of Napa Valley.
Bill Harlan first stumbled across this land in the 1980s. While its rare metamorphic soils held immense promise, the land had been decimated; the soils were essentially destroyed and robbed of their organic matter.
A regeneration process is still in place at Promontory. Vines are largely untrellised; plots are scattered around the farm and are less domesticated than in many US estates. This gives the Promontory team an astounding range of microclimates and aspects, each imparting a distinct, raw sense of place to the resulting wines.
The team at Promontory employs unusual techniques to coax the best out of their high-altitude vines; vineyards are “mixed pace”, and each vine is allowed to develop at its rate. They also employ “dry farming”, an incredibly rare choice that avoids irrigating crops during a dry season. In this way, they ensure a greater concentration of fruit in their wines and future-proof themselves for summers when water will be in increasingly scarce supply.
Napa Valley
North Coast's Napa Valley is California's most famous viticultural area (AVA), claiming some of the most expensive agricultural land in the world and producing wines of ‘cult’ status.
Its 16,000 ha of vines lie over a strip (40 miles long-5 miles wide) of diverse soils (clay, gravely, volcanic), with its northernmost end on the side of Mountain Helena and its foot in San Francisco Bay. The valley is framed by two mountains ranges Vaca (to the north) and Mayacamas (to the south), yet the main climatic influence is the cool wind and fog that is sucked in from San Pablo Bay during the afternoon, allowing grapes to ripen slowly and evenly.
The area enjoys a variety of unique microclimates, as temperatures can vary dramatically as much as 15 degrees, from the north to the south end of the valley. These differences have led to the creation of several sub-AVAs (14 in total) including:
Atlas Peak, Chiles Valley District, Diamond Mountain District, Howell Mountain, Los Carneros, Mt. Veeder, Oakville, Rutherford, St. Helena, Spring Mountain District, Stags Leap District, Yountville, Wild Horse Valley and Oak Knoll District. The Calistoga AVA is still pending approval.
Both the “Napa Valley” designation and the sub-AVA name must appear on the wine label simultaneously, with the exception of wines from the Carneros AVA, which is shared between the Napa Valley and the Sonoma County.
Cabernet Sauvignon is the undisputed king of Napa grapes, occupying over 45% of the vineyard acreage, followed by (predominantly) Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Riesling, Zinfandel, Merlot, Cab. Franc and to a lesser extent Petite Sirah, Sangiovese, Barbera, Dolcetto.
Recommended Producers
Frog's Leap, Dominus, David Ramey, Viader, Stag's Leap Cellars, Paras Vineyards, Heitz.
Cabernet Sauvignon
The most famous red wine grape in the world and one of the most widely planted.
It is adaptable to a wide range of soils, although it performs particularly well on well-drained, low-fertile soils. It has small, dusty, black-blue berries with thick skins that produce deeply coloured, full-bodied wines with notable tannins. Its spiritual home is the Médoc and Graves regions of Bordeaux where it thrives on the well-drained gravel-rich soils producing tannic wines with piercing blackcurrant fruits that develop complex cedarwood and cigar box nuances when fully mature.
The grape is widely planted in California where Cabernet Sauvignon based wines are distinguished by their rich mixture of cassis, mint, eucalyptus and vanilla oak. It is planted across Australia and with particular success in Coonawarra where it is suited to the famed Terra Rossa soil. In Italy barrique aged Cabernet Sauvignon is a key component in Super Tuscans such as Tignanello and Sassicaia, either on its own or as part of a blend with Sangiovese.
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Description
Promontory has done it again, producing one of the stand-out Napa wines in 2013. On the nose, enveloping forest fruits are accompanied by notes of blueberry, charcoal, wet stone and graphite minerality. Full-bodied and unctuous, its finely grained tannins and richness are in perfect harmony. One is spoilt for choice on the palate with more blueberry, mocha, morello cherry, spice and a hint of espresso. Simply stunning, the finish just goes on and on. This is unmistakeably Napa, but is the region at the top of its game, with the true quality of terroir and careful winemaking shining through with such vibrancy. This wine has a wonderful future ahead of it. It’s one of the best Promontory wines I have tasted. Drink 2025-2035+
Stuart Rae, Commercial Manager
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