1974 Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Martha's Vineyard

Community Tasting Notes (92) Avg Score: 95.6 points

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  5/1/2024 - Nanda wrote: 97 Points

  Outstanding bottle that needed time to fully show it's stuff, particularly on the nose. When this at stride, ~30-45 minutes after opening, the aromas were still 80% as intense as the perfect palate, which was texturally concentrated and featured intense mint, cedar and tobacco leaf all enveloped by still fresh, sweet fruit.

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  5/1/2024 - Cailles wrote: 94 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: The first bottle was past its prime, overwhelmed by soy sauce notes. However, a second bottle more accurately showcased the wine's renowned qualities. It displayed waves of bright red and dark berries, centered around pure, fresh strawberries, complemented by signature mint/eucalyptus aromas and a smoky minerality. Unfortunately, without proper aeration (these wines usually benefit from decanting for an hour or more), it didn't fully demonstrate its potential, lacking some complexity and stature compared to the best wines today.

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  5/1/2024 - acyso wrote: 100 Points

  To Tony (La Grange Park, IL): What's there to say? This is really all that it's cracked up to be. The nose at the beginning was somewhat muted and honestly a little disappointing; what this wine needs is a half hour or so for it to truly blossom. What a seriously decadent bottle of Napa cabernet. The minty, eucalyptus thing needs a fair bit of air to show up but it definitely does show up, imbuing this with the classic Heitz Martha's profile. The palate is silky and resolved, with intense red fruit here. It's pure and clean, and there's absolutely so much nuance on the palate. Coupled with the sweet, mature fruit, this is an absolute delight.

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  2/2/2024 - G_H wrote: 97 Points

  A 1974 Napa Retrospective (Zunfthaus zur Waag Zürich): After the shock of a corked bottle, the host miraculously had another bottle appear. Amazing generosity, thank you!
  
  This had the hallmark Martha notes, was dense and long and just a pleasure to drink.
  
  Having been lucky enough to taste the 1975 twice lately, it starts becoming quite clear, that the 1975 has now overtaken the 1974 and still has a lot more life ahead of it, whereas I would drink up the 1974 bottles slowly (if you have any and can afford not to sell them).

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  2/2/2024 - G_H wrote: flawed

  A 1974 Napa Retrospective (Zunfthaus zur Waag Zürich): Unfortunately a bottle that was deeply flawed. Not in the infamous Heitz way or corked but just very off. Such a shame.

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