Vecina vineyard is located in the western foothills of Oakville, just to the south-east of the winery (up on Oakville Grade). Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2016 Vecina slips sensuously out of the glass with gorgeous black cherries, kirsch, wild blueberries and blackcurrant pastilles notes plus suggestions of bouquet garni, pencil lead, tilled earth and underbrush. Full-bodied, taut and packed with ripe, expressive, exquisitely accented black and blue fruits, it has loads of earthy sparks and a compelling fine-grained nature to the firm texture, finishing long and layered. This bright, energetic, incredibly nuanced beauty is built like a brick house and, while approachable in youth, is easily a 50-year wine. I therefore urge readers to wait at least 5-7 years before opening to allow for the myriad of subtle nuances to emerge and offer that "WOW" experience that will reward patience.
Drinking Window: 2024 - 2070
Reviewer Name: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
Review Date: 30th September 2019
The 2016 Vecina got a few expletives in my notes, and it’s one of the more powerful, structured, inward wines in the lineup. From a site on the western side of the appellation (not far from Harlan Estate), its deep purple color is followed by stunning notes of crushed rocks, violets, chocolate, graphite, and cold steel. It’s an incredible, insanely good Cabernet that’s going to benefit from a decade of bottle age and keep for 30 years or more.
Drinking Window: 2030 - 2060
Reviewer Name: Jeb Dunnuck
Review Date: 31st January 2020
Blackberry, black-truffle, sliced-mushroom and dried-beef aromas. Full-bodied, broad shouldered and amazingly structured and layered. Dense, extremely long and intense. It’s seamless and goes on for minutes. Great wine. Give it time to give you even more. Better after 2022.
Reviewer Name: James Suckling
Review Date: 3rd May 2019
The 2016 Vecina is the most tannic and brooding of the wines, as it so often is. Swaths of tannin wrap around a core of black cherry, chocolate, new leather, licorice, spice and menthol. I would cellar the 2016 for at least few years to shed some of its youthful bombastic intensity. There is certainly no shortage of character or complexity. As always, Vecina emerges from choice parcels within Vine Hill Ranch.
Drinking Window: 2020 - 2031
Reviewer Name: Antonio Galloni
Review Date: 1st January 2020
- Details
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- Year 2016
- Colour Red
- Country United States
- Region California
- Sub Region Napa Valley
- Designation
- Pack Size 3x75cl
- ABV 14.80°
- Drinking Window 2030 - 2070
- Drinking Recommendation Not Ready
- LWIN 113663620160300750
- Reviews (4)
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100 Wine Advocate
Vecina vineyard is located in the western foothills of Oakville, just to the south-east of the winery (up on Oakville Grade). Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2016 Vecina slips sensuously out of the glass with gorgeous black cherries, kirsch, wild blueberries and blackcurrant pastilles notes plus suggestions of bouquet garni, pencil lead, tilled earth and underbrush. Full-bodied, taut and packed with ripe, expressive, exquisitely accented black and blue fruits, it has loads of earthy sparks and a compelling fine-grained nature to the firm texture, finishing long and layered. This bright, energetic, incredibly nuanced beauty is built like a brick house and, while approachable in youth, is easily a 50-year wine. I therefore urge readers to wait at least 5-7 years before opening to allow for the myriad of subtle nuances to emerge and offer that "WOW" experience that will reward patience.
Drinking Window: 2024 - 2070
Reviewer Name: Lisa Perrotti-Brown
Review Date: 30th September 2019
99 Jeb DunnuckThe 2016 Vecina got a few expletives in my notes, and it’s one of the more powerful, structured, inward wines in the lineup. From a site on the western side of the appellation (not far from Harlan Estate), its deep purple color is followed by stunning notes of crushed rocks, violets, chocolate, graphite, and cold steel. It’s an incredible, insanely good Cabernet that’s going to benefit from a decade of bottle age and keep for 30 years or more.
Drinking Window: 2030 - 2060
Reviewer Name: Jeb Dunnuck
Review Date: 31st January 2020
99 James SucklingBlackberry, black-truffle, sliced-mushroom and dried-beef aromas. Full-bodied, broad shouldered and amazingly structured and layered. Dense, extremely long and intense. It’s seamless and goes on for minutes. Great wine. Give it time to give you even more. Better after 2022.
Reviewer Name: James Suckling
Review Date: 3rd May 2019
97 VinousThe 2016 Vecina is the most tannic and brooding of the wines, as it so often is. Swaths of tannin wrap around a core of black cherry, chocolate, new leather, licorice, spice and menthol. I would cellar the 2016 for at least few years to shed some of its youthful bombastic intensity. There is certainly no shortage of character or complexity. As always, Vecina emerges from choice parcels within Vine Hill Ranch.
Drinking Window: 2020 - 2031
Reviewer Name: Antonio Galloni
Review Date: 1st January 2020
- Producer
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About Bond BOND represents the vision of Napa Valley legend Bill Harlan – a name the sight of which will light up the faces of all Californian connoisseurs. Harlan Estate is widely considered to be the “Napa First Growth” - indeed, this is partly self-styled as Bill Harlan coined the phrase when founding the property – yet it is an epithet that is thoroughly deserved. This project, named after Harlan’s maternal surname, is an extension of the immense talent on display at the larger, more well-known Harlan, with its own unique BOND identity. Since its creation in 1997, these wines have come to compete with Harlan Estate itself, as well as rival cult labels such as Screaming Eagle and Scarecrow at the very pinnacle of what Napa does best – ferociously sought after, micro-production wine of awe-inspiring power and fruit. Viniculture Having well and truly established himself as one of the leading vignerons of the New World with the eponymous Harlan Estate in Oakville, Bill Harlan started assembling a team of top wine-growers and wine-makers to embark on a new venture. If it is reasonable to assert that Harlan Estate is an attempt to emulate the great properties of Bordeaux (in certain aspects) through the production of a single “estate” wine, BOND is the formidable vinous visionary’s quest to take his endeavours on a decidedly Burgundian path. BOND remains definitively Bordeaux in its varietal composition, but the cuvées crafted at this glorious property are from the finest vineyard plots Harlan could select – in essence, these are Napa Valley “Grands Crus”. The search for suitable parcels took many years, and whilst BOND debuted in 1999with releases from the Melbury and Vecina estates, the Quella vineyard cuvée - situated on a dramatically steep slope at an elevation of 600 feet - did not produce its first wine until 2006. BOND is an unrelentingly terroir-driven project. To date, the demanding Bill Harlan has deemed a mere five parcels worthy of selection, out of the more than 80 vineyards they have worked with over 25 years. Whilst Harlan does not work with anything other than exceptional vineyards, these five most vividly demonstrate the range of Napa Valley's finest terroirs. The five minuscule hillside plots, ranging from seven to eleven hectares, are therefore all remarkably different. In a rather satisfying play on words (and cosmic coincidence), Bill Harlan states that the “BOND” between the cuvées is the driven desire to express as purely and honestly the vineyards’ terroir. Similarly to Harlan Estate, BOND was sold initially through an old fashioned mailing list. What every merchant and collector would do to have had the foresight to sign up to that when they had the opportunity! The difference with BOND is that the original list was even more exclusive due to the vastly smaller level of production.
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