January 23, 2024 - Decanted 1.5 hrs. Notes of dark fruit: plum, black raspberry, with notes of damp earth and cedar. Tannins are well integrated with long finish.
December 23, 2023 - Still a young wine. Carafe have been necessary. Mouthful of eucalyptus, anise, then currant and plums. In a good spot but this as many years in bank.
November 23, 2023 - Special Thanksgiving wine. Special year. Broke my body then my heart.
October 1, 2023 - The drink window shown for this wine is way to long. In fact on my bottle, which has bee properly sored in a controlled cellar, I noticed that the flavors were getting a little soft (light). I would drink this wine now or in the next 2 years...ok, maybe 3, but I would not go much longer unless you prefer a very light wine. In general, I expect about 20 years from California cab grapes - can anyone document a longer drink window? I could go on about flavors and tannins, but the other notes cover this well.
August 2, 2023 - Excellent nose and tasting young, full bodied
January 27, 2023 - It’s not outstanding. It should have been. In September 1999 we drove up US 1 in a convertible. Fantastic ride, but we were on a mission: pick up a case of Heitz Martha’s Vineyard and ship it back home to THE BOSS. We parked and rolled into the winery forgetting that Y2K was going to end the world. We sat at the bar, had some sips and slowly realized that this wine was over our heads. The credit cards were burning holes in our pockets. How could we actually pay for a case of this wine? We waited and prayed that the charge went through…it did. So we drove to the “ship the wine” store, packed up the case, sent it to the boss and never saw it again. So here we are tonight, 22+ years later, we skipped the Burgundy and pulled out this 2005 Heitz Martha’s Vineyard. We joked how in the last millennium we couldn’t afford this wine, popped the cork and waited for perfection and…it did not come. It was plum, blackberry jam and strawberry. Not the signature Heitz profile we expected. We sipped and questioned whether it was us or the wine. It wasn’t our pairing (steak). So we went back to the cellar and pulled out a newer Heitz “2014 Trailside”. And there it was, Heitz magic. Everything you would have expected in the 2005 Martha; mint, eucalyptus, dark chocolate. It wasn’t that the 2005 wasn’t good, it just didn’t remind us of driving up the coast on a dime with the wind blowing in our hair.
PS. A night of two bottles of Heitz is a good night
October 2, 2022 - Nose: blackcurrant jam, violet
Notes: It is indeed a mistake to consume this bottle so early. It was an experiment to see if this wine is ready yet but unfortunately this bottle requires at least another 5 years of cellaring. Very full bodied with excellent aroma, it is difficult to spot much secondary notes in the wine even with 17 years of aging. Certainly it has not been an ideal result and even with the help of a decanter we are nowhere near an optimal drinking window. Personally I feel that new American CS (for that I'm generalizing but I mainly refer to the post 00s) are sometimes just too fruit driven, and such approach would most certainly sacrifice the balance of the wine hence the concentration will often be a bit overwhelming. Unfortunately this applies to most makers in Napa. It is hard to say just yet if this approach will yield magical results in 15-20 years when these wines have finally reached their peak drinking time. I shall continue to try these in the coming years and hopefully the sacrifices made in the wines early years can be compensated.
Drink: 2027+
Rating: 88
February 5, 2022 - Oh yes!! This nose just screams Martha's! Red berries, eucalyptus and mint. Beautifully dense and opulent but not at all overripe. I guess this will easily live to see it's 50th birthday. I will need to get myself a magnum or two of this...
November 12, 2021 - Opened without proper aeration but still showed very well. I would give this 2 to 3 hours minimum in decanter at this stage
March 20, 2021 - Opened for our 30th anniversary and decanted for approx an hour. Deep black fruit nose with hints of tobacco and leather. Initial taste of deep, deep, black cherry and plum with the telltale Martha's eucalyptus profile. Superb wine with such power and depth of flavor which lasted for the next hour. Excellent paring with filet and ribeye. Still has yrs ahead for enjoyment. Hadn't had a Martha's since the 1991,opened for our 20th anniversay which @ twenty yrs old had the same profile. Unique Napa bottling which still delivers!!!