1972 Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Martha's Vineyard

Community Tasting Note

9 comments have been posted

• Comment posted by Wyneaux:

  11/18/2021 11:26:00 PM - Maybe you need to try this wine again? Maybe you had a poorly stored bottled because yours seems to be the minority opinion and because of how Winesearcher's average weight system works, your score seems to be holding down what the average they report to 88.

• Comment posted by Jeff Leve:

  11/19/2021 10:15:00 AM - I do not even know where to start with a comment like yours. I do not taste, rate or post on wines to help an average score. I could care less. I call it as I see it. I am not impressed by labels or prices.
  
  That bottle was not all that good. 1972 is a poor vintage, with rain during the entire harvest. The wine tastes like I said, because of the vintage. If you like the wine, great. You should rate it as high as you like. But my comments are always fair and honest. I looked and do not see your tasting note or score. Have you even tried it?

• Comment posted by Wyneaux:

  11/19/2021 10:55:00 AM - Well technically, you rated a bottle unless you had multiple bottles from multiple sources, you should know the old saying: "There are no great wines, only great bottles." It appears that almost everyone else on CT has a different opinion of the 72 Martha's. Just suggesting maybe you had a bottle that was improperly stored at one point? As for the vintage, hard to necessarily tell a wine by it's vintage. In 71, Joe declassified his Martha's because of low quality but the 71 Ridge Eisele is legendary! Maybe Joe learned from whatever happened to him in 71?
  
  And then there is this John Gilman review of the regular "Joe"... his 1972 Napa Cab...
  
  91 JG.
  "This was the first time I have had the pleasure to drink a bottle of the Napa bottling from Joe Heitz from the 1972 vintage, and given the fair bit of mintiness here on the nose, I am guessing that perhaps this was one of those tail end of the vintage bottlings that might have been stretched with a bit of Martha’s Vineyard. The superb nose offers up a mature and vibrant blend of red and black cherries, Rutherford dust, petroleum jelly, a touch of cherry skin, gentle notes of chipotles and a nice touch of mintiness in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, fullish and à point, with superb complexity, melted tannins, bright acids and excellent grip and focus on the long and suave finish. A beautiful bottle of old school Napa cabernet sauvignon that is still at its zenith. John Gilman, View From the Cellar #58, Aug 2015

• Comment posted by Jeff Leve:

  11/19/2021 11:03:00 AM - Where is your tasting note? Next, I do not care what anyone else ever says about a wine. That never matters to me. And I can promise you, I know the difference between a good wine, a bad wine, and a defective bottle. 72 Heitz is not defective. It is just old. At close to 50 years of age, from a poor vintage, that is what you get.
  
  Just my opinion, but you should take my comments more seriously because I do not go along with the crowd. But that's just me.

• Comment posted by Wyneaux:

  11/19/2021 11:35:00 AM - Looks like I amended my reply after your latest post but it seems you wouldn't care what John Gilman had to say anyway. I am not questioning that you had a tired wine, only that you seem to judge that wine in total by tasting only one bottle.
  
  I had an experience in the late 80's with the 1974 B.V. Georges De Latour. Several people at the Winebox in Canoga Park opened their 750ml bottles that were over the hill yet every 375 ml bottle that I opened showed the wine to be highly structured with years ago. This was everyone's opinion, not just mine!
  
  PS - Since you don't place stock in anyone else's review, why should I bother to tell you about my 1972 Martha's experience? You'll note that I seldom post reviews here.... I am not that good a verbalizing my experiences in the manner of most wine reviewers and I find it taxing to take notes during dinner.

• Comment posted by Jeff Leve:

  11/19/2021 11:44:00 AM - Had you posted a note, at least I would know if you had formed a view of the wine on your own, or if your opinion was based on others' notes. True, what Gilman likes in a wine, 99% of the time, we do not agree. I have close to 25,000 notes on here, so it is fairly easy to determine what I like in a wine or not, and why.

• Comment posted by Wyneaux:

  11/19/2021 11:50:00 AM - Again, I cannot seem to get you to understand my point. I am not questioning your opinion of that particular bottle and I do read your reviews and find I mainly agree but when tasting older bottles of wine, I have found from over 50 years of tasting, that the bottle is what it is.... and another bottle of the exact same wine can be totally different.... much of it depends on how the wine was stored especially when the bottle is over 20 years old. But that is not all that can make a difference. I have worked in wineries so I know about bottling too and wine can come from different vats and different barrels that have never been mixed.... and so was the beginning of the OFS Dry Creek labeling when the winemaker found barrels that were much better than the rest..... as one example.

• Comment posted by Jeff Leve:

  11/19/2021 12:04:00 PM - I clearly understand your point. The bottle was not defective, just old. That is what happens at 50 years of age. I really do not have more to add. But you are welcome to buy a bottle and decide for yourself, or rely on my note and save the money.

• Comment posted by Wyneaux:

  11/19/2021 12:56:00 PM - I don't have to buy any, I still have 2 left in the cellar plus 2 "regular Joe's" but you know it is OK to generalize from a large sample that something might be bad.... but not from a single sample.... that was re-enforced by the wine related statistics class I had at UC Davis when I got my degree in enology. It's also why the CDC conducts multitudes of tests before approving a drug or vaccine.... but hey go ahead and think what you want, it's a free country after all,,,,,
  
  PS Winesearcher average price is over $1600.... guess there are a lot of saps out there....