7 Things You Should Know About The Mascot, the Other Wine From Napa’s Cult Harlan Estate

Napa Valley is undoubtedly the most famed winemaking region in the U.S. And within this region, there are a few producers who have reached cult-level status. One of these sought-after brands is Harlan Estate, known for its bold and complex Cabernet Sauvignon-based blends. Bill Harlan started the winery in 1984 in Napa’s prestigious Oakville region, and ever since the wine’s debut in 1996, it’s been a favorite among Napa Cab enthusiasts.

While the wines from Harlan Estate are widely known, what about the Harlan family’s more accessible bottling, The Mascot? As one might deduce from the label, there’s an interesting story behind this wine that ties into the family’s history.

Here are seven things you should know about The Mascot.

The Mascot is made from younger vines on the Harlan Estate.

As the Harlan Estate wines soared to popularity in the ‘90s, the family decided to expand their portfolio. In 1996, the Harlan family established BOND, another wine label sourcing grapes from top sites across Napa Valley. And in 2008, Harlan acquired a different area of land and started the Promontory label, led by the family’s second generation.

Managing these three labels, the Harlan family works with its fair share of vineyard sites. Typically, older vines are more coveted for the high-end wines, revered for their ability to grow concentrated grapes full of rich character, so grapes from the younger vines were typically omitted from the blends of Harlan, BOND, and Promontory wines. So the family decided to use fruit from the younger vines to make a separate bottling, run by second-generation winemaker Will Harlan, which later became The Mascot.

The Mascot began as a table wine for the Harlan family.

Wine made from the estate’s younger vines was traditionally bottled unnamed and unlabeled and poured at family dinners. It gained a devoted following among close friends and eventually, the Harlan family decided to release it in small quantities in 2007 under The Mascot label — the first vintage of which Will Harlan actually labeled by hand. As more vineyards needed replanting, more vines fell into the seven- to 12-year-old range that fit the bill for The Mascot, and the team decided to make it a permanent fixture of the Harlan lineup.

The wine’s label can be attributed to the family’s love of dogs.

The Harlan family has a deep love of dogs and cherishes each furry friend of the winemaking team. When deciding the name and label for this wine, incorporating this passion for dogs immediately sprung to mind. As a result, The Mascot’s label proudly features a photo of a white English bull terrier. Kindred canine and wine enthusiasts can check out The Mascot’s Instagram for more dog content, as the brand posts fun photos of cute puppies on adventures or running through the vineyards. One of the brand’s events even featured an ice sculpture of an English bull terrier.

The label was also inspired by an old American book.

So how did The Mascot end up with an English bull terrier on the label out of all the potential possibilities? The Harlan family took inspiration from a few sources, the first of which was the 1903 book “The Bar Sinister,” written by American war correspondent and fiction writer Richard Harding Davis. The protagonist of the book is a noble English bull terrier named Kid. Will Harlan recalls that his grandparents had a first-edition copy of the book in their library that he often liked to read as a kid, and the tale of Kid stuck with him.

And a collection of engravings.

The inspiration for The Mascot’s label doesn’t stop there. There’s actually another family tie-in with a different famed English bull terrier. The second came from the Harlan family’s collection of favorite engravings (every family has one, right?) that included an image of a white English bull terrier named Prince pictured on the stock certificate of the Farmers Deposit National Bank of Pittsburgh. Prince lived at the bank’s flagship branch and stood watch. He was known for enthusiastically greeting customers and was beloved by the community. Prince was so adored he even served as the mascot to local baseball, football, and hockey teams that the bank sponsored — hence the name, The Mascot. The image of Prince is ultimately what the family chose to put on the wine’s label.

The wine is meant to be easy-drinking.

While many Napa Cabs are built with bold flavors and intense structure in mind, The Mascot aims to be a warm, welcoming glass that doesn’t intimidate with heavy tannins. Will Harlan purposefully made the bottle approachable as a way to honor its past as the family’s table wine, meant to be drunk and enjoyed with friends without overthinking it. In order to achieve this, the wines are aged extensively — about five years — before release to allow the tannins to integrate into the wine. The result is a Cabernet Sauvignon-based wine that consumers can readily pop for their next dinner party without storing in their cellar for decades.

The best place to taste The Mascot is on the road.

The Mascot doesn’t have a dedicated Napa Valley tasting room, but for drinkers curious to try the wine, there are a few ways to get your hands on it. One way is to join the allocation waitlist on the brand’s website to access the wine with pre-release pricing. Another way is to visit the many restaurants that feature The Mascot by the glass. But the best way to fully experience the wine is to catch one of the winery’s chef collaboration events including activations with Daisy Ryan of Bell’s restaurant in Los Alamos, Calif., and Franklin Barbecue in Austin. The team also recently held a sunrise walk through the Harlan family vineyards with a tasting through several Mascot vintages and food prepared over an open fire from chef Kevin O’Connor. Keep an eye out on the winery’s site for future tastings.

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