Bond St. Eden Napa Valley 2001

Bond St. Eden Napa Valley 2001 is a perfect-scoring Cabernet Sauvignon from Bill Harlan's single-vineyard project on a rocky 27-acre hillside estate north of Oakville Crossroads in Napa Valley, California.

Critic tasting note: (2001 vintage)

"The debut vintage of this offshoot from Harlan estate offers a nose filled with smoke, blackberry, earth, charcoal, tobacco and cassis. While rich and concentrated, this is more of a finesse style of California Cabernet Sauvignon, which ends with a fresh, sensuous, spice, earth and black cherry liqueur filled finish. 2001 Bond St. Eden is drinking great today. 95 Points" - Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider (95/100)

Robert Parker The Wine Advocate (100/100)

"Utterly perfect, another wine that seems to have taken on a first-growth Pauillac-like character (think Mouton-Rothschild) is the 2001 St. Eden. With a remarkably perfumed nose of crushed rocks, subtle barbecue smoke, and again, cedar wood intermixed with crème de cassis and blackberry, this wine displays a phenomenally concentrated mouthfeel, full-bodied opulence, voluptuous texture, and of this trio, is certainly the closest to its apogee of full maturity. Nevertheless, it will still benefit from another 5-10 years of cellaring and keep for an additional 25-30.

As long-time readers know, this is the brainchild of Harlan Estate’s Bill Harlan, who has signed the owners of these well-placed vineyards in selected microclimates in Napa Valley to long (quarter of a century) contracts. In the first decade, he has expanded the number of vineyard holdings to five separate wines in 2011, all made by the Harlan Estate winemaking team of Bob Levy and consulting enologist Michel Rolland. There were only three cuvees in 2001—from an 11-acre site on the western Oakville hillsides near Harlan Estate, the Vecina, St. Eden, an 11-acre stony knoll north of the Oakville Crossroad with a northern exposure, and from the steep slopes just north of Lake Hennessy with an eastern and southeastern exposure, east of Rutherford, the Melbury. Since these fabulous 2001s were made, two other great vineyards have been added to the Bond portfolio. These are Quella, which is a nine-acre vineyard in the eastern hills of northern Napa Valley, planted on white volcanic ash called Tufa, and Pluribus, which is a high-elevation vineyard planted on steep slopes of Spring Mountain with a northern and easterly exposure. All three 2001s showed phenomenally and are still very young wines, with at least 15 to 20 more years of upside potential. In fact, in a cold cellar, these wines probably have 40 or more years of aging potential, but few of us will be able to wait that long to see how they taste." - Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.

Tasting Profile

Deep ruby-red hue with aromas of crushed rocks, barbecue smoke, cedar, creme de cassis, and blackberry. The full-bodied palate offers phenomenally concentrated mouthfeel, voluptuous texture, penetrating spine, and remarkable evolution.

Key Traits

• Body: Opulent and full with solid tannic structure and balsamic depth.

• Aging: Approaching maturity with 25-30+ years ahead (100 WA, 96 WS, 94 AG); pairs with grilled lamb, ribeye, or foie gras.

• Terroir: Iron-rich fractured volcanic rock from Vaca Mountains yields focus, sweet cassis core, and mineral-tinged lushness.