Back When You Could Have Bought Harlan: Documenting A Unique Moment In US Wine History

Imagine yourself in the shoes of someone who received a letter, postmarked Oakville, California, way back in December 1995.

The letter would have come from Harlan Estate, and it would have been signed by H. William Harlan himself. Harlan had established the winery in 1984, with vineyards set in the western hills above the Oakville benchlands.

And now, a decade later, they were ready to release their first vintage of wine. The letter would have included an original edition of their engraved label, the same one that would eventually be affixed to the bottles of wines themselves.

The letter was part teaser, part foreshadowing, part “save the date.” There wasn’t an order form included with the letter, just a post office box and numbers for the phone and fax at the winery, along with “you’ll hear more soon.”

Would you, back in December 1995, have reached out to place an order?

We know the answer now — an unequivocal Yes for anyone mindful of Harlan’s positioning in the trajectory of Napa Cabernet Sauvignon on the global market. But back then, you’d have been taking a risk. The wine was expensive (more on that below) and Harlan wasn’t “Harlan” yet.

That’s exactly the moment I’d like to hover over for today’s post in this series, about documenting an inflection point in American wine history by exploring the letters written to their earliest customers — before Harlan became “Harlan,” so to speak.

A Modest Yet Strategic Offering to Start

There wasn’t all that much to say in December 1995, the date that Bill Harlan wrote and signed the first letter to their mailing list. He and his wife Deborah were ready to release their first wines from the “family ranch,” Harlan wrote, and they were including an original edition of their engraved label.

The letter consisted only of four paragraphs: two of those paragraphs were one sentence long and two stretched to two whole sentences.

That was it, despite the fact that Harlan and his team had about ten years to think about what they wanted to say before they were ready to release a wine.

Which they did, at $65 a bottle, which was ten dollars more than Opus One, widely considered to be the top California wine at the time. The inaugural offering of Harlan consisted of approximately 250 six-bottle cases each, of the 1990 and 1991 vintages, available directly from the winery. The balance of the 1991 vintage was sold to restaurants and bottle shops around the world.

The $65 per bottle price is “still the most courageous price we ever charged for a wine,” said Don Weaver, Director of Harlan Estate. “We probably didn’t make any money at that price, but if you don’t position yourself then the market will position you.”

It was a strategic trade-off, to sacrifice immediate revenue (if selling wine ten years after founding a winery can be called “immediate”) in favor of market positioning that was underpinned by a very long-term business mindset. The “bet” of the strategic trade-off was placed even before sky-high scores and critical reviews in the media sent demand for Harlan wine through the roof.

The Tipping Point

Those scores and reviews are what enabled Harlan to reach its tipping point or, more accurately, its watershed moment.

How is this next stage of evolution documented in the letters to their customers? It’s a mix of obvious and more subtle changes.

By March 1997, for example, the letters are noticeably longer, they’re signed by Weaver rather than Harlan, and they include significantly more details about the process behind-the-scenes of fulfilling orders by charter members of the mailing list.

For the duration of what I see as the second, tipping-point phase of evolution, however, the tone of the letters remains candid and direct, and the voice is more casually familiar than formally business-like, fully owning the challenges of far more orders than the winery could possibly fill while also encouraging readers to “stay tuned” as the winery continues to grow and mature.

Here are a few of my favorite lines from this phase of Harlan’s letters to their earliest customers, which also reflect their evolution as a brand:

• “You are no doubt wondering by now… what the h*ll is taking so long??!!”
• “It has taken me quite a bit longer than usual to fill your order. I essentially ‘sat’ on the orders until we could determine the scope and decide on the most equitable treatment.”
• “In the end, some loyal customers will undoubtedly be disappointed and many newcomers (who will get no wine) may become discouraged.”

These excerpts preview the next, final installment of this series: as the brand grows into fuller maturity, the letters demonstrate the increased confidence borne from commercial success while also managing the delicate dynamic of scarce supply for a very demanding audience.

Please stay tuned.