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| Community Tasting Notes (average 93.1 pts. and median of 93 pts. in 71 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by Cailles on 5/5/2024 & rated 93 points: 9x Heitz Martha‘s Vineyard (60s/70s/80s): Tasting these wines from three decades underscores the vineyard's ability to produce long-lived, high-quality wines with remarkable consistency, perhaps unmatched in Napa Valley during those years. While there is a clear line through the decades the tasting showcased the many faces these wines have, as some were still vibrant and young while others were on an absolut peak. The 1978 vintage was the winner, earning a perfect 100pts for its mature complexity, including malt and coffee nuances, a lively fruit core, and formidable structure. The 1969 and 1975 vintages were not far behind (both at 97pts).
TN: Initially, this wine presents a "cellar stink" on the nose, a common trait in many 80s Martha's, which gradually diminishes with time in the decanter. On the palate, it starts off much better, showcasing a fresh core of dark and blue fruits, complemented by mint, herbs, and minerality. Although it lacks the density and poise of the finest bottles, it gains weight and fills out with more air, drinking beautifully at a 93/94pt level today, with potential for improvement as it matures and adds more layers.
Decanting: 3-4 hours in the decanter are advised. (264 views) | | | Tasted by Odedis.Wine.reviews on 3/19/2024 & rated 92 points: Dark ruby in color with a wide brick rim.
Medium plus in body with medium acidity.
Dry on the palate with nice complexity.
Showing black fruits with earth, cedar, leather, chocolates, licorice, peppercorn, vanilla, cedar, cola, light earth, herbs, tobacco leaf and coffee.
Medium finish with fine grained tannins and tangy raspberries.
This 37 year old is drinking very nicely now, although probably past its peak. Elegant and still has enough fruits.
Nicely balanced with a soft mouth feel. Really enjoyable.
I've had a few different vintages of this wine and it is always impressive to see its ability to age gracefully. The last time I had this specific vintage was a year ago, and it was drinking better. It's all about the individual bottle at this age...
Good by itself as a sipping wine, and will pair nicely with food as well.
13.5% alcohol by volume.
92 points.
$450. (380 views) | | | Tasted by The Cellar at 924 on 3/15/2024 & rated 94 points: Soft nose of red and black fruits, wet leaves, herbs, black pepper, must, tobacco leaf, earth, light wood and dark coffee.
I will admit that I was afraid to give the wine too much air. Dcanted and then returned to the bottle. It continued to get better throughout the evening.
Medium plus in body, smooth and elegant, with medium acidity.
Dry on the palate with blueberries, plums, cherries, light oak, licorice, spices, coffee, earth, cola, light vegetables, herbs, pencil lead and peppercorn. Long finish with round tannins and dark fruits and currants. Delicious. (302 views) | | | Tasted by DaleW on 1/2/2024: Just a stunning bottle of this, black cherry and currant with mint/eucalyptus, cigar box, and grilled meats. Complex, complete, and very long. A/A- (599 views) | | | Tasted by DaleW on 10/2/2023: I think I enjoyed this more than Mark. Berries, black cherry, cocoa, and a big dose of Martha’s eucalyptus. Long, firm, complex. A- (966 views) | | | Tasted by JuliannaDHS on 2/25/2023 & rated 93 points: Very nice upon opening and some improvement after a few hours. Dark fruit, minty/herbal, funk. Excellent balance and a long finish. (1496 views) | | | Tasted by Cailles on 10/23/2022 & rated 95 points: Heitz MV vs Dominus: 1983/1987/1991. Heitz Martha's won the battle (95.3 pts average vs 93.7pts for Dominus) thanks to more complexity and rounder, completer structural frames. My WOTN was the 1983 MV (rated 97 pts) thanks to an ever changing, highly complex aroma play, with a superb, elegant structure. In its first few years, Dominus (maiden vintage 1983) produced very classically shaped Bordeaux blends, great but often a bit square and with some hard edges. 1983/87 were no exception. In the 90s that changed (proved here by a superb 1991). All in all, lots of excellent wines and all worth chasing.
TN: Medium+ expressive nose, minty, eucalyptus, dark berries, and some minerality as well as hints of chocolate. There was a bit of a funky note there, so probably not 100% clean but it didn’t bother that much. On the palate superb, round and harmonious, lush and creamy yet fresh. High complexity with again minty and eucalyptus notes, an array of ripe, fresh black berries, herbs, earthy notes, minerality and a touch of chocolate. The 1987 does not have the same complexity as the 1983 but correct bottles should get there in another 5 to 10 years. Superb and 95/96 pts in my book.
Decanting: A good one hour decant should do the trick but this was good from the go. (2669 views) | | | Tasted by MC2 Wines on 6/7/2022: Wine Workshop: Heitz Martha's Vineyard (The Dutch): Very very very good. Not one that got a lot of love from the group, but as I've said tough line-up. This was darker fruits and lilac and fresh and minty and just in a great spot. I think one of the better years in Napa and it shows. (2430 views) | | | Tasted by MC2 Wines on 5/12/2022: Pre 1990 Cali Cab + 1981 Birthday Surprise! (Cowford Chophouse): From a magnum. Not quite as pristine in quality as the '81 although I still really enjoyed this. A bit more grassy rather than the eucalyptus. It's got the darker fruits. Hint of mint. There's just an overall intrigue in the flavors here and a uniqueness to the wine that I really like. Looking forward to continuing to explore the older vintages of Heitz. (2159 views) | | | Tasted by Odedis.Wine.reviews on 4/26/2022 & rated 93 points: Dark ruby in color with a brick rim.
Soft nose of red and black fruits, wet leaves, herbs, black pepper, must, tobacco leaf, earth, light wood and dark coffee.
Medium plus in body, smooth and elegant, with medium acidity.
Dry on the palate with blueberries, plums, cherries, light oak, licorice, spices, coffee, earth, cola, light vegetables, herbs, pencil lead and peppercorn.
Long finish with round tannins and tangy raspberries.
This is a delicious Cabernet Sauvignon from the very famous Martha’s Vineyard in
Napa Valley.
This 35 year old is drinking very nicely now. Nice to see how it held up.
Nicely balanced with a nice mouthfeel. Elegant and tasty. Showing nice complexity at this point.
A little muted right out of the bottle, and needed a few minutes to open up. Even better after an hour of airtime.
Good by itself or with food. I paired it with a pizza with prosciutto and arugula. Delish.
13.5% alcohol by volume.
93 points.
$450. (1791 views) | | | Tasted by vindictive on 4/7/2022: one of the last great years for this wine, still holding up well, great example of California terroir. Sublime with Argentinian steak (1289 views) | | | Tasted by G_H on 2/5/2022 & rated 97 points: Absolutely clean and so fresh with cassis, eucalyptus, gummy-bears with a velvety dense texture. Love it!!
This will probably not be the longest lived Martha's though, I'd guess to drink the bottles within the next 10 years or so. But no need to wait as it is gorgeous right now. (1293 views) | | | Tasted by Cailles on 8/24/2021 & rated 95 points: 17x Bordeaux 1982-1990 (+ 2 Martha’s): All wines were tasted single blind but this Heitz MV and its sibling from the 1991 vintage (rated 93 pts) were served double blind as “pirates”. Both Martha’s showed full of spearmint/eucalyptus, super intense with a fine structural frame but of course a bit one-dimensional (but exciting due to their uniqueness… everybody screamed Martha’s after the first sniff and sip). The group didn’t like the 1991 vintage (16th out of 16 reds) but I didn’t find much difference between the two wines other than the 1987 showing a tad more complex but especially more open and ready. I guess that the 1991 has more in store and just needs more time to develop whereas the 1987 has reached its peak drinking window (and will continue to stay there for a long time).
TN: Super intense nose and palate full of mint, spearmint, eucalyptus and then behind that wall of fresh herbs a rather red fruit core, some minerality and faint hints of earth and tobacco. Not super complex but very precise and singular. The structure is impeccable with very fine tannins and a very, very high but perfectly integrated acidity. Nicely creamy yet light and fresh texture and feel. Long mint driven finish.
Decanting: Decanted for roughly 2-3 hours which seemed to be a good decision
Group score: 95.9 pts
Group rank: Shared 3rd out of 16 reds (2876 views) | | | Tasted by La Sprezzatura on 6/26/2021 & rated 92 points: very special, but good. distinctive mint and eucalyptus nose. (779 views) | | | Tasted by sirpat00 on 6/26/2021 & rated 95 points: Bordeaux 1982-1990 tasting (Restaurant Essen'z, Brugg): Bordeaux 1982-1980 tasting of selected wines, including a couple of pirates. All wines were decanted for at least 2-3 hours, tasted in flights of 2 and single-blind. While not a representative sample, I would venture the following observations: 1/ First growths in 1988 should not be underestimated for the hedonistic pleasure they offer, 2/ 1990 first growths have not yet passed through their closed stage, 3/ you’ll find stand-out second tier wines from 1982. 4/ Highlights were Palmer 89 and Gruaud Larose 82 (96 each).
Tasting note:
Spearmint, bubble gum, green herbal notes and sweet red berry fruit. You can't get much more signature Martha's Vineyars than that. Super round, with sufficient tension and concentration. Absolutely singular with a unique personality. Interestingly the 87 eclipsed the 91 despite the latter's arguably better credentials. (2490 views) | | | Tasted by aquacongas on 3/14/2021 & rated 100 points: blind
I guessed Bx, At his peak. Some fruit left, not too much eucalyptus, some cedar wood, elegant, smooth, still vivid, reluctant but with a longlasting concentrated finish. Lovely perfection. 99-100 (2530 views) | | | Tasted by KFloveswine on 10/25/2020 & rated 96 points: Really good. My first Heitz from my parents cellar. It was really good. It held up wonderfully over 30+ years. (1953 views) | | | Tasted by GraffCellar on 10/3/2020 & rated 93 points: Clear, medium, brick color
Fully developed, medium aroma intensity
Showing mature fruit and balanced acidity.
Holding together great for 33 years.
Drink now.
No reason to hold any longer. (2082 views) | | | Tasted by Kemo Sabe on 5/9/2020 & rated 93 points: From mag. Later in the night and not a lot of notes. Good depth and didnt seem near decline. Classic old school cali cab. (2237 views) | | | Tasted by JoeDwine on 4/12/2020 & rated 95 points: Great Easter wine. Finish goes on and on. Earth and Mint showing through. 1987 is underrated vintage! (1260 views) | | | Tasted by Nanda on 3/5/2020 & rated 93 points: La Paulée Zachy's Auction - Thursday (Le Bernardin Privé): Beautiful mint-infused Bordeaux like nose. Nice plum fruit with resolved tannin, though still quite fresh. A+ nose / Solid palate. (2227 views) | | | Tasted by Burgundy Al on 3/5/2020 & rated 93 points: Zachys La Paulee Auction; 3/5/2020-3/6/2020 (Le Bernardin Prive - New York NY): Small glass, brief note. Fully mature black plum and cherry with good depth and complex earth and spice notes. Very good now. (2671 views) | | | Tasted by Labrador on 3/20/2018 flawed bottle: Great expectations .... dashed!
The wine was disjointed. My sense is that it had not been properly cared for. (3785 views) | | | Tasted by DrZett on 8/2/2017 & rated 87 points: What a pity, I believe this was a great wine 10 years ago but now it is way over its time in my opinion. After uncorking beautiful body with power and nice dark and ripe cassis, cherries and fresh tobacco. 15 minutes later everything was gone - the wine suddenly was completely flat and exchangeable. Bottle and cork were in great condition. Drink up as fast as you can - literally. (4538 views) | | | Tasted by WoodieBayArea on 7/13/2017 & rated 89 points: good but not great, not full bodied and a touch light on the palate for Heitz Martha's, not a rebuy and would recommend with food for sure (4219 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| Heitz Cellar Producer websiteCabernet SauvignonCabernet Sauvignon is probably the most famous red wine grape variety on Earth. It is rivaled in this regard only by its Bordeaux stablemate Merlot, and its opposite number in Burgundy, Pinot Noir. From its origins in Bordeaux, Cabernet has successfully spread to almost every winegrowing country in the world. It is now the key grape variety in many first-rate New World wine regions, most notably Napa Valley, Coonawarra and Maipo Valley. Wherever they come from, Cabernet Sauvignon wines always seem to demonstrate a handful of common character traits: deep color, good tannin structure, moderate acidity and aromas of blackcurrant, tomato leaf, dark spices and cedarwood.
Used as frequently in blends as in varietal wines, Cabernet Sauvignon has a large number of common blending partners. Apart from the obvious Merlot and Cabernet Franc, the most prevalent of these are Malbec, Petit Verdot and Carmenere (the ingredients of a classic Bordeaux Blend), Shiraz (in Australia's favorite blend) and in Spain and South America, a Cabernet – Tempranillo blend is now commonplace. Even the bold Tannat-based wines of Madiran are now generally softened with Cabernet SauvignonUSAAmerican wine has been produced since the 1500s, with the first widespread production beginning in New Mexico in 1628. Today, wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with California producing 84% of all U.S. wine. The continent of North America is home to several native species of grape, including Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia, Vitis rotundifolia, and Vitis vulpina, but the wine-making industry is based almost entirely on the cultivation of the European Vitis vinifera, which was introduced by European settlers. With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) under vine, the United States is the fourth-largest wine producing country in the world, after Italy, Spain, and France.California2021 vintage: "Unlike almost all other areas of the state, the Russian River Valley had higher than normal crops in 2021, which has made for a wine of greater generosity and fruit forwardness than some of its stablemates." - Morgan Twain-Peterson Napa Valley Napa Valley Wineries and Wine (Napa Valley Vintners)Oakville |
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