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Thursday, April 13, 2023 - Open THAT Bottle - Special Edition (Joe's Bistro): Everyone who knows me knows I am a Harlan whore......simply the best for my palate! My previous benchmark wine was the 1996 Harlan, but this 1994 supplanted that! Not by a lot (but it is hard to improve on perfection!).

OK....so when one member of our party said he was planning on opening a 1994 Harlan, I was like Pavlov's dog, just automatically started to salivate! I was extremely excited because (1) I had never had one and (2) my niece's birth year is 1994 and consequently I have had lots of 1994 wines from California, and have been impressed by all of them! My last 1996 Harlan seemed like it had lost a step, and I was slightly worried this would be even further behind. However, this wine proved there are still great bottles out there, so I am now chalking my 96 Harlan to bottle variation!

OK....the nuts and bolts! Nose was very perfumed (think Margaux) with purple flowers, red and dark fruit, sweet tobacco leaf and new leather with a tinge of spice. Palate was awesome with a typical Harlan silky mouthfeel, and exuding pure elegance on the tongue with dark fruit, think creme de cassis, intertwined with juicy plum, some earthy notes, some old leather and lots of sweet tobacco. Finish was long and elegant and slightly creamy, which I enjoyed immensely. 98+ (my highest score for a red wine) and a new benchmark for me! Wish I had a few of these in my cellar! Thanks Dan!

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