Promontory (Harlan) Penultimate 2019 750ml

Behind many brilliant flagship wines is another bottling from the producer—often (but not always) a larger production, sold for less, and containing fruit that didn’t make the cut for the winery’s signature red. The model (which is growing) is useful. The estate has a profitable channel for grapes it steers away from its icon wine, making it painless to shape that wine into its very best self from only top-performing vineyard blocks. It allows a broader swath of consumers to enjoy the more affordable wine, which often benefits from the same meticulous treatment the flagship receives; and for collectors, the “second wine” can often be enjoyed sooner, while they wait for the flagship bottle to come into its own in the cellar.

One of Napa Valley’s newest releases under an iconic brand—Penultimate, from the Harlan Family’s seminal Promontory Estate—indeed checks a couple of those boxes, but it is far more than a so-called “second.” It plays a critical role of its own in relationship to the pinnacle that is Promontory. In fact, in a remarkable way, it helps elevate the wine it aspires to be.

Penultimate—whose ancient arrowhead depicted on the label (found on the property) is so nearly perfect as to be thought a prototype for others to be modeled on—is available, of course, to Promontory members, and those not there just yet can sign up for the waiting list. But the wine is also available for visitors to the winery to purchase in three-packs from the library list. Because there’s so little of Penultimate made (those are exclusive vineyards blocks in line to reach Promontory status), it’s not poured for visitors. But a tour of the spectacular citadel of concrete and steel that is Promontory, with its cellar ringed with artfully backlit casks, and a tasting of several vintages of the signature wine (one in that cellar setting) are a treat in themselves. And a three-pack of Penultimate in your cellar at home after the fact will offer fascinating insight into the pretty exceptional “next-to-the-last stages” behind Promontory.