This week, the Ideal Wine Company explores why the Harlan Estate is often imaginatively described as the ‘ultimate cult winery.’
Welcome to the Harlan Estate
Here at the Ideal Wine Company, we strive to bring you the best wines from around the world. Only through this, can we continue our mission to provide you with top quality luxury vintages at a price you can actually afford.
That’s why we hold two vintages from the California-based Harlan Estate on the Ideal Wine Company product list. We have the Harlan Estate 1998 for the value-saving price of £429, and the Harlan Estate 2002 for the reasonable price tag of £900. But what makes either of these fine wines a good investment.
California Wine, the Rival of Any Produced in Burgundy or Bordeaux
Let’s start with the region. It used to be the story that if you were looking for a quality bottle, you didn’t look outside of Bordeaux or Champagne. Times are changing though, and California is now one of the most renowned wine making regions in the world.
As of 2014, California is responsible for a staggering 90% of US wine production. Alone, the production of wine is one-third larger than Australia’s, and almost three quarters of France’s. Produced in areas such as Napa Valley, Sonoma County and the Paso Robles, the many varieties of wine cultivated on the US West Coast are known today as some of the best in the world; the rival of any produced in Burgundy and even Bordeaux.
Harlan’s Ambition, To Compete with the Most Coveted Wines on Earth
So now we know why people choose to buy California wines, such as those produced at the Harlan Estate, but why is it the ultimate cult winery? What is it about that makes it so unique; an experience not to be missed?
Essentially, the Harlan Estate, which produces sumptuous Bordeaux style blends, is known as the ultimate cult winery because of its unique place in Californian viticulture history. The estate’s founder, H William Harlan, set out through the vineyard to establish the first growth in Napa Valley that would be able to compete with the most coveted wines on earth.
Harlan Estate deserves its Cult Status
He more than succeeded. At the end of the day, the Ideal Wine Company has chosen to feature vintages from the Harlan Estate brand exactly because they can compete with the Burgundies and Bordeaux’s of the world; and were the first Californian wines to do so. That is why they are a valuable investment for even the most experienced of wine collectors.
