1974 Heitz Cellar Angelica

Community Tasting Notes (14) Avg Score: 91.5 points

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View Cailles's profile
  • Report Issue

  5/1/2024 - Cailles wrote: 83 Points

  23x California 1974: Do the legendary 1974s still hold up? The answer is a resounding YES, and not just for one or two top wines, but across the board. These best wines showed incredible complexity, with still vibrant fruit cores perfectly complemented by layers upon layers of tertiary aromas, a fully intact structural frame, stature, poise, and freshness. While many of these wines should continue to age well, I don't expect them to get any better than they are now. The top wines in the tasting were the Mondavi Cabernet and the Phelps Insignia (both 97pts), the Mondavi Reserve and the Mount Eden (both 96pts), and the Ridge Monte Bello (95pts). Many more wines scored in the 90-94 point range. I'm convinced that many wines would have scored even higher in a different tasting setting, where you can follow the wine over the course of an evening. Only 5 of the 24 bottles showed signs of weakness, with 1 of those already oxidized, but given the substance that could be tasted underneath, this is more likely due to weak corks or poor storage than anything nature delivered this year. All the wines had very good fill levels and had been quickly double decanted before tasting to remove the sediment.
  
  TN: A unicorn sweet wine, produced only in 1974/76, it spent 17 years in barrel. Many people loved it thanks to an impressive complexity and superb precision, with a sweetness well kept in check by a deep acid backbone. I didn't like the aromatic profile, with lots of dried fruit, and the alcohol was strong on the nose and palate, which is not surprising at 19% alcohol.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comments (4)

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View G_H's profile
  • Report Issue

  2/2/2024 - G_H wrote:

  A 1974 Napa Retrospective (Zunfthaus zur Waag Zürich): A curiosity. Very sweet and slightly alcoholic, but quite enjoyable for fans of the style

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View ljl's profile
  • Report Issue

  6/5/2020 - ljl Likes this wine: 90 Points

  Bought the wine at the vineyard ahoy 35 years ago. I didn’t know what to suspect when I opened it. Brownish in color. Tasted like a fine port

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View Markus IWC's profile
  • Report Issue

  5/22/2020 - Markus IWC wrote: 90 Points

  Läckert fortifierat vin, gjort på mission druvan som missionärerna tog med sig under koloniseringen av Nordamerika.
  
  Portvinsstil

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View Wine_lvr's profile
  • Report Issue

  9/18/2014 - Wine_lvr Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Heitz, Heitz, Heitz and Heitz: Brownish in color. Nose of walnut, maple syrup and malt. Reminded me a lot of an old Solera out of the 19th century. Nice sweetness, good structure. Quite thick. Overall an interesting wine. Drink now with no hurry.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

View all 14 Community Tasting Notes

Professional reviews have copyrights and you can view them here for your personal use only as private content. To view pro reviews you must either subscribe to a pre-integrated publication or manually enter reviews below. Learn more.