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😍 5/5 - Memorable, upscale tasting experience
By 👻 @Matthew G, 05/04/2021 3:00 am
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My wife and I are always interested in trying new and interesting wine tasting experiences on our trips to Napa, and having an opportunity to try higher end wines before committing to full bottles is always something we look forward to. A friend had recently made us aware of Promontory and its high-end wines from the Harlan family, and it seemed like a great opportunity to dip our toes in the world of cult wine. We’ve never had Harlan Estate or BOND wines, despite knowing of their reputations and the high prices they command. Having the opportunity to visit Promontory, the newest winery in the family and the only one that allows the public to visit for tastings, was a wonderful experience!
Tastings at Promontory are pricey, at $200 per person, but if you’re really interested in learning more about the winery and trying some great wines, I think it’s worth it. I would definitely recommend booking far in advance, as they only take one group at a time, with only a couple groups per day. We booked about a month and a half out, and we were able to get the day we wanted, but we did not have much choice of time. The tastings here are also a leisurely experience, so I would recommend making sure you have plenty of time budgeted for it in your schedule and don’t have to rush out to get to another tasting. It was really nice to be able to just relax and enjoy, and we stayed well beyond the allotted time.
Promontory is located on Oakville Grade Road, and sits just above Far Niente, nestled in the hills in a beautiful, prime location. It’s easy enough to find, but they’re clear on the fact that you’re not supposed to arrive early. The winery is unmarked from the street and is behind large gates that generally remain shut, so if you don’t arrive at the appointed time, it won’t be easy to get in. We arrived right on time and the gate was open with our guide, Kassandra, waiting to wave us in and show us where to park.
It doesn’t take long to notice how absolutely beautiful Promontory is. The winery is sleek and modern, designed by renowned architect Howard Backen. It takes full advantage of its amazing location, and is nestled into the hill with striking outdoor spaces and views. Just the physical space itself is almost worth the visit. The initial view when you walk in and see the water feature stretching out seemingly right into the hills and vineyards is striking and beautiful. The views from Promontory are stunning, as you can see down into the valley below, but you also have great views of the vineyards nestled in the nearby hills, which include those for Promontory and Harlan Estate. Seeing where these legendary wines are grown was great.
When we arrived, we were immediately given glasses of Dom Perignon to start the experience and begin our tour. It was a lovely start. Kassandra also did a great job of making the tour perfect for our level of familiarity with the winery. We had never had Promontory or any Harlan family wine, but are very familiar with Napa wines in general, so I thought she did a great job of introducing us to the Harlan family and the tailoring the information to what would be most helpful to us.
We had been warned that we would not be able to tour the interior winery facilities due to Covid restrictions, but I was very excited when Kassandra told us we could still tour the interior since we were the only guests there at the time. I often don’t get that excited when tastings involve a tour of the winery itself (I often feel like if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all), but the tour here was well worth it. The tanks and barrels are custom and unique at Promontory, and the physical spaces where they’re held are truly stunning. The fermentation hall is beautiful, the underground cask room with oversized Austrian casks was like nothing we’ve seen before. I’ve also just never been to a more pristine, clean, perfect winery.
After taking the interior winery tour and getting some great pictures in the process, we sat down for our outdoor tasting in the garden, which was comfortable and beautiful as well. Promontory only makes one wine, so the tasting featured three different vintages. Their very first vintage was in 2008, and we were able to try two of the more mature wines against a tasting straight out of the barrel of a newer vintage. We were both so impressed at how surprisingly mature and wonderful the barrel pour tasted, and the wine was all fabulous. I could not pick a favorite of the wines, because it all just had such a finesse and clear sense of purpose in the winemaking that carried through the vintages.
The tasting experience with Kassandra was relaxed and fun (nothing about our visit here felt pretentious, which was something I was worried about beforehand). She was previously a sommelier and has a lot of background in the wine industry, so it was great to learn more about Promontory and Harlan from her, but also just to talk about Napa and wine drinking in general. It was an enjoyable and easy conversation, and as it went on, she offered us extra pours of any wines we wanted to try again, along with some time alone to finish and discuss the tasting.
The only thing that I found a little odd was when I asked more about the cult wine moniker and what Harlan thinks has contributed to this phenomenon over time. Rather than just addressing it head on and acknowledging (even if just partially) that there may be a point where imagined prestige has elevated prices of some wines to a crazy level that may or may not fully correlate with quality, she mostly refused to talk about it, telling us that they don’t use that term and turned the question back to me. I expected a bit of deflection related to this, but at the same time, there’s no way that such a new winery as Promontory would be charging as much as they do for each bottle of wine if it weren’t for the Harlan name and the cult reputation that comes with it. The quality is obviously there, but I’d appreciate a franker discussion of the topic, which was something I wasn’t even bringing up in a controversial or challenging manner.
The wines at Promontory at $800 per bottle (buying one bottle waives one of the tasting fees), but we just couldn’t justify purchasing any wine to take home, regardless of how much we loved it. I knew that bottles of such a high cost would just sit unopened and we’d never feel like it’s the right occasion to open them. Choosing not to buy anything was no problem at all, and we did not feel pressured to purchase. If you are serious about acquiring Promontory or other Harlan wines, however, we were told that our visit to Promontory would qualify us to have faster access to the Harlan Estate or BOND allocation lists if we were interested in acquiring those wines without having to wait on the waitlist.
We left Promontory having had a great time, trying excellent wine in a private setting at one of the most beautiful wineries we’ve ever been to. If you’re like us and just interested in getting a glimpse of wines in the cult wine world, Promontory is a great starting point. It’s the newest member of the Harlan family of wineries, and the tasting experience and hospitality here are excellent. Kassandra could not have been nicer or more welcoming and helpful throughout the afternoon. She offered to provide us with her own personal recommendations of other wineries to visit on future trips, and she put a lot of time into sending me a long list of curated recommendations when I emailed her after the trip, which we definitely appreciated. The wine and tasting experience at Promontory are not cheap, but it’s an excellent and memorable visit.
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