The most recent Harlan Estate wine dinner in Kuala Lumpur displayed the allure of a wine which combines a deep study of Old-World winemaking with the natural riches of the Californian landscape.
Recently, Harlan Estate showed up at Park Hyatt Kuala Lumpur’s private dining space, high above on level 98 of Merdeka 118 – the world’s second-highest building. The dinner was organised by Bordeaux Liquid Gold’s Julian Poh – a distributor of rare and exclusive wines from both the Old and New World – together with Harlan Estate. The latter was represented by the winery’s Asia Pacific General Manager Bernice Cheng who commented that this dinner was the highest-ever Harlan Estate wine dinner ever conducted.
Opening proceedings, Park Hyatt Kuala Lumpur’s Executive Chef Stig Drageide shared insights into the makings of a dinner menu paired with the Bordeaux-styled wine of Harlan Estate. “It’s a challenge sometimes, and a wine like this deserves a piece of meat or steak as an accompaniment. This is why we start with braised beef cheeks in red wine, and Korean Kyoho grapes compressed with red wine for that fresh flavour”. Then comes French winter chanterelles, black truffles and foie gras in a chawanmushi topped with truffle foam. With the mains, the Atlantic Cod combines ponzu and beef jus while the beef fillet is topped with red wine jus, with a side of burnt leek and Pommes Anna.
The evening’s lineup of Harlan Estate featured four vintages; 2021, 2011, 2004 and the 1999. Guests at the Kuala Lumpur dinner were among the early ones worldwide to taste the current 2021 vintage, a warmer expression displaying emergent fresh, dark fruit across a palate that flashes with acidity and advancing to a sustained, tranquil finish. This finish owes its thanks to the heritage of older vines that exemplify the winery’s identity despite the vintage’s relative youth.
In the 2011, borne of a cool winter, heavier rains and lower autumn temperatures, the resulting lowered yield and lower sugar challenged its winemaking. The outcome in winemaking notes is best described as a fresh and floral exhibiting a nose of ripe blackberries, violets, green peppercorns, leather, mild, sweet and earthy red peppers coupled with hints of forest-floor and dried leaves. Its palate is juicier than what the nose might suggest, an umami supported by a slender, acidic backbone.
Early budbreak in the second half of March resulted in a 2004 vintage with a fairly low yield of 1.8 tonnes per acre. From this comes a wine with a nose of roasted coffee, charcoal and blackberry segueing into bright cassis and black fruits. According to Cheng, the vintage’s sweet core fruit from a riper vintage is a ‘little glimpse of where the 2021 vintage could go’.
Anchoring the quartet was the cooler 1999. “This vintage is not one you see a lot, it came directly from the Harlan family cellar so this is a very special night,” Cheng remarks. Aromas of black olive, tobacco leaf, spearmint and black pepper hints give way to balanced fruit and sweet layers swooping in mid-palate, concluding on a long, elegant finish.
Photography: Joshua Chay / The Spacemen
Filmed by: The Spacemen
Website: http://www.robbreport.com.my
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/robbreportmalaysia
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/robbreport_malaysia
Robb Report Malaysia magazine is the definitive authority and luxury resource on connoisseurship for the ultra-affluent.