Starting with the 2006 Matriarch, this wine is the easiest to drink young. With dark plum/purple, with plenty of smoke, blackcurrants, espresso roast, oak and chocolate, it is dense, round and best drunk over the next decade. To reiterate what I have written in the past, Bond is the world-class project of Harlan Estates owner Bill Harlan. It is a simple concept— take 20+-year leases on some of the finest vineyard sites in all of Napa Valley, bring in your own winemaker (the well-known Bob Levy, along with Michel Rolland in the background) and produce these single-vineyard wines, with the stuff considered not good enough culled out and blended together into their second wine, called Matriarch. All of these wines are aged for nearly two years in 100% new French oak and bottled with no fining or filtration. They are all meant for 25 or even possibly 35+ years of aging. There are now five separate vineyards in the Bond portfolio. Quella comes from a 10-acre vineyard in Spring Valley near Howell Mountain, planted on volcanic white ash called tufa. The St. Eden comes from a valley floor vineyard in the Oakville corridor. Melbury is from Pritchard Hill, overlooking Lake Hennessy, Vecina a east-facing hillside neighbor to Harlan Estate, and Pluribus a Spring Mountain vineyard overlooking St. Helena. The 2006s, which seemed tannic and unevolved last year, have put on weight, elegance, and for the most part, showed in the upper point ranges I gave them last year from barrel.

Starting with the Matriarch, this wine is the easiest to drink young. Dark plum/purple, with plenty of smoke, black currants, espresso roast, oak, and chocolate, the 2006 is dense, round, and best drunk over the next decade. To reiterate what I have written in the past, Bond is the world-class project of Harlan Estates owner Bill Harlan. It is a simple concept – take 20+-year leases on some of the finest vineyard sites in all of Napa Valley, bring in your own winemaker (the well-known Bob Levy, along with Michel Rolland in the background), and produce these single vineyard wines, with the stuff considered not good enough culled out and blended together into their second wine, called Matriarch. All of these wines are aged for nearly two years in 100% new French oak and bottled with no fining or filtration. They are all meant for 25 or even possibly 35+ years of aging. There are now five separate vineyards in the Bond portfolio. Quella comes from a 10-acre vineyard in Spring Valley near Howell Mountain, planted on volcanic white ash called tufa. The St. Eden comes from a valley floor vineyard in the Oakville corridor. Melbury is from Pritchard Hill, overlooking Lake Hennessy, Vecina a east-facing hillside neighbor to Harlan Estate, and E Pluribus a Spring Mountain vineyard overlooking St. Helena. The 2006s, which seemed tannic and unevolved last year, have put on weight, elegance, and for the most part, showed in the upper point ranges I gave them last year from barrel.Tel. (707) 944-1441; Fax (707) 944-1444

Matriarch often measures up to the level of BOND and Harlan Estate itself. It is a blend of various BOND components. The ’06 is a classically structured Napa blend, fat and flashy in youth, offering complex waves of blackberry and cherry tart, black currant, cola, licorice and sweet, spicy oak. There’s a savory meatiness reminiscent of salty bacon. But the tannins are significant. Drink now through 2018.——S.H.(4/1/2010)—— 94