“It was an absolute joy to taste the perfect 2016, a wine that Cilli mentioned so clearly shows the characteristics of Promontory.” – Wine Advocate

SEXTUPLE 100 points on Harlan’s youngest baby! Just a handful of these are available.

Bill Harlan discovered this hidden 840-acre wilderness folded into the Mount Veeder foothills while hiking in the 1980s. And then kept it secret for 25 years before planting a single vine. Promontory is the Harlan family’s most ambitious project: wild, remote, and utterly unlike anything else in Napa.

The 2016 is widely considered the estate’s defining vintage, earning a staggering SIX perfect 100-point scores. Will Harlan calls it an “inflection point”—a wine with cathedral-like structure that somehow feels weightless, wrapped in impossibly fine tannins. Aged 3 years in large oak casks (unheard of in Napa), this is full-bodied, mineral-driven, and built to evolve for 30+ years. Legendary stuff from one of the world’s most mythical properties.

Sorry, our site only allows 4 review snippets, we’ve never offered a wine with THIS MANY 100 points before!

Going, going…

100 Points – Wine Advocate “Bottled in April 2019, the 2016 Promontory sports an inky purple-black color. WOW—here the compelling aromas begin quietly, soon growing exponentially on the nose into this incredible crescendo of black and blue fruits: baked plums, blueberry preserves, warm cassis and mulberries, with suggestions of licorice, dark chocolate, truffles and tapenade plus a touch of cardamom. Full-bodied and fantastically concentrated, with an amazing backbone of freshness lifting the myriad of black fruit and savory layers, the palate is framed by firm, velvety tannins, finishing on a lingering spicy note. Gorgeous! This incredibly singular expression of Napa Valley is unlikely to be released by the winery until 2021, so keep your eyes peeled in a few years’ time—Napa fans won’t want to miss this one! Drink 2024-2066.”

100 Points – Jeb Dunnuck “The 2016 Estate is pure perfection and a legend in the making. Featuring incredible purity of fruit as well as powerful notes of crème de cassis, gravelly earth, cedar pencil, and chocolate, it has the fresher, pure, classic style of this great vintage front and center. With full-bodied richness and depth, it has an almost Château Latour-like stature and majestic quality, and it should have a similar evolution, requiring 7-8 years to hit its early drink window yet evolve for 20-30 years or more. Drink 2028-2060.”

100 Points – The Wine Independent “Deep garnet-purple, the 2016 Promontory comes barreling out of the glass with bold scents of black cherries, blueberry pie and licorice, leading to a slowly emerging core of crème de cassis, dark chocolate, black soil and truffles plus touches of cumin seed, mossy bark and beef drippings. The full-bodied palate is densely packed with muscular fruit, backed by a rock-solid structure of very firm, exquisitely ripe, grainy tannins and fantastic tension. The finish is both powerful and beautifully nuanced, hedonic and cerebrally gratifying. Drink 2024-2065.”

100 Points – The Wine Palate “Deep purple-black colored, the nose of the 2016 Promontory starts a little sluggish and broody before positively erupting with powerful scents of plum preserves and crème de cassis, followed by exotic hints of cardamom, Indian spices, and sandalwood, plus wafts of fertile loam and crushed rocks. The palate is full-bodied, rich, and velvety, intertwining opulence and minerality with wonderful vibrancy and gravitas, finishing with an epically long-lasting array of earthy sparks. Now starting to shut down as it heads into a slumber, give it a good 4-5 more years in the cellar before broaching, then drink it over the next 30+ years. Drink 2026-2056.”

100 Points – The Wine Cellar Insider “This is what mind-blowing Cabernet Sauvignon is all about. Dark garnet in color, black and blue fruit, bay leaf, smoke, cherries, and flowers create the perfect set of aromatics. Incredibly precise, silky fruits with a purity that is almost impossible to achieve. The seamless finish crosses the 60-second mark and keeps on going with layers of red, black and blue fruit. It is impossible not to want to take another sip, to make sure what you just tasted was real, and another sip after that just so you can experience it all over again. The wine was aged for 28 months in Austrian oak foudres.”

100 Points – James Suckling “I tasted this for the first time last year and it has only got greater. The nose is breathtaking. Purity with incredible complexity, showing dried mushrooms, blackberries, currants and cedar. Some wet earth. Dense and layered blackberries and blueberries. Full-bodied and long with beautiful depth and intensity. The tannins are ultra long. Black truffle comes through. Love the length, finesse and focus.”