Not Harlan. Not Bond. Just Promontory.

To quickly catch you up: Day 1 was OVID, which briefly became my overall #1 for winery visits in the 4 times I have attended PNV. There will be plenty blogged about that visit — you don’t need me to waste space here. Day 2 we were lucky enough to be invited to Promontory.

Setting the stage: it’s a 9am appointment(!), luckily only about 15 minutes from the house, just up Oakville Grade Rd. The previous day had been long, we were still working on Eastern Time, so an early bedtime meant the 9am appointment was not as bad as expected. An unlabeled (very) heavy steel door on tracks with a pager system gets us into a very manicured front entrance where we are met by Kassandra — and it’s into the building and back out onto a staggeringly beautiful terrace, where Kassandra regretfully informs us that since they do not make a white wine to kick off the tour with, we will have to settle for a bottle of Dom Pérignon. So life is pretty good. I should mention it was unseasonably cold that week, probably the low 40s that morning. From the terrace we can see the Mascot vineyard spread out directly below, FUTO up and to the right, and Harlan about a half-mile out. The Promontory vineyards themselves are about 2 miles southwest of the winery and completely obscured by mountains and forest. There is basically an unobstructed view of the entire Oakville AVA and most of Yountville as well… I do not understand how they get anything done, and more importantly how someone does not build a second story residence! It is one of the most beautiful, tranquil spots I can remember in my life. The grounds are planted with oak, olive and eucalyptus, while the winery and tasting rooms were designed by the incredibly famous Howard Backen — who has since passed away — a close personal friend of Bill Harlan who was also responsible for OVID.

We are taken on an extended tour of the jaw-dropping fermentation room, with its turn-of-the-last-century railway station aesthetic, while also being incredibly modern and designed purely for function. There is an experimental fermentation and blending room used almost exclusively by vineyard employees as a way to both advance their bankable skills and keep them employed full-time, providing a continued path to citizenship for some. (It is not commonly known that the citizenship process requires full-time employment, making the vast majority of seasonal farm and vineyard workers unable to maintain their standing. Applause to Promontory for their devotion to finding a way to help their workers become not just better at their chosen profession, but with a clear path to citizenship.) The barrel aging room was unexpected — Promontory ages entirely in very tall, white oak Austrian barrels ranging from 1,000–3,000 liters, and they are stunning. The barrel rooms themselves are very dim, very angular and concrete, and would not be out of place in a modern horror movie. I both loved and was intimidated by it. We tasted the 2023 from a 3,000-liter barrel, and it was surprisingly approachable, even though it is not slated for release until September of next year. From here, we moved back up to the tasting room proper for what would be pure joy.

For the better part of an hour Kassandra had been emphasizing that Promontory is NOT Harlan, it is NOT valley floor, and it is NOT Bond. They wanted to make a pure expression of the mountain fruit without the need to make a huge, indulgent red. To this end, most of their vineyards face east in a valley, with only two facing west to catch the peak sun. She started by pouring two wines blind — both Promontory, no vintage stated. We pretty easily guessed the first was much younger, but they could have easily been mistaken for older left-bank Bordeaux, specifically Pauillac. Cedar, pencil lead, mint and greenery were all on display, with the younger showing plenty of blue and some black fruit. The minerality stood out and almost confused the senses, because we knew we were tasting 100% Napa Cabernet. It was revealed the first was the 2021 Promontory, the second a maligned vintage — 2017. Nick, Chris & I all agreed we preferred the 2017 over the multi-100pt 2021. Kassandra asked if we had a preference to try something old and we happily put ourselves in her hands. She returned with two more blind wines. The first I mistakenly thought might be the 2022 Promontory — it turned out to be the 2020 Penultimate, their second wine. 2020 was a notoriously hot and challenging vintage, but it was absolutely excellent. The final wine had all the earmarks of a Napa Cab with some real age on it. The mint had turned to eucalyptus, the primary fruits had transitioned to basil, sage and dried leaves. It still had a ton of acidity and plenty of black fruit, but it was clearly entering a sweet spot for a well-made Napa Cab. It was a bottle of the monumental (mere 97pt) 2012 — which would start a running theme and joke for the next few days, as winery after winery opened 2012s that left us all stunned. Ultimately, I would rank them without hesitation: 2012, 2017, then either the 2020 Penultimate or the 2021 Promontory. Not a knock on the brilliant 2021 — just way too early to judge it on its merits.

Eventually this visit had to come to an end (we were craving Taylor’s Refresher), but the tasting was easily #1, the attention to detail by the staff leading up to the visit and by Kassandra — a wealth of knowledge and consummate professional — was easily #1, and the winery itself left an indelible mark on me. It illustrates what an experience can be when the author sets out to write the story the right way from the start and is not willing to bend to expectations.