1997 Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Trailside Vineyard

Community Tasting Notes (42) Median Score: 93 points

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  2/8/2022 - hoya_saxa Likes this wine: 95 Points

  Stunning mature Rutherford Cabernet. A thoroughly interesting nose on this bottle that took us for a ride out of the gate, from fruit forward to barnyard to intensely floral over the course of several hours. Would not have guessed this was a '97, excellent structure and fruit shining through on the palate. Drink or hold.

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  7/30/2021 - olioli wrote: 94 Points

  Un favori de la foule!
  Sur un plateau pour 15-20 ans facile..

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  12/30/2020 - jondrinkswine Likes this wine: 95 Points

  Exquisite bottle perfectly stored. Seriously singing after 4 hour slow ox. Plum, blueberries, raspberries. Oak is there but restrained. Allspice, chocolate. Only slightest hints of tertiary flavor. If you really search, there’s a hint of forest floor. Plenty of fine grained tannin left. This wine can go the distance. Interested to see how this continues to evolve over 10 more years, but I doubt I’ll have the patience to wait with my other bottle.

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  5/5/2020 - blank blank wrote:

  To me trailside always tastes like chocolate, and good god is this characteristic of trailside. Chocolate nose, chocolate palate, purple-chocolate color. This chocolate is chocolatey chocolate cabernet.
  
  It’s really not bad it’s just singular.

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  5/1/2020 - Somm David T Likes this wine: 95 Points

  The nose reveals, gummy, ripe, floral; blackberries, black raspberries, black plum, dark cherries, black plum, raspberries, touch of blueberries, mulberries & boysenberries. Fruit cola melody, dark chocolate, mocha, caramel, dark spice, softly layered; clove, nutmeg, understated cinnamon & vanilla, anise, steeped black, fruit tea, bay leaf, sage, mint, dry crushed rocks, limestone, dry twig, volcanic, dry clay, dry top soil, forest floor, mushrooms, anise, graphite, fresh & dry tobacco with candied, brightly floral, fresh & withering; dark, red, purple & blue flowers framed in mixed; wild, greens and fields of lavender.
  
  The body is elegantly, round, velvety, ruby & creamy. The tension, structure, length and balance are at their high point. It glides beautifully with juicy fruits. This is a gleaming example of why I love well aged & stored Heitz. Gummy, ripe, floral; blackberries, black raspberries, dark cherries, black plum, plum, raspberries, touch of blueberries, mulberries & boysenberries, dry pomegranate & cranberries with dark raisins, dates & a little fig. Dark fruit melody cola, touch of bandaid/VA, dark chocolate, mocha, caramel, dark spice, dark expresso roast, softly layered; clove, nutmeg, understated cinnamon & vanilla, anise, steeped black, fruit tea, bay leaf, sage, mint, dry crushed rocks, limestone, dry twig, volcanic minerals, dry clay, dry top soil, forest floor, mushrooms, anise, graphite, fresh & dry tobacco with candied, brightly floral, fresh & withering; dark, red, purple & blue flowers framed in mixed; wild, greens and fields of lavender. It’s has perfect round, warm, rain shower acidity. The finish is everything I look for in an aged, Napa Cabernet. The 97 Trailside has flushed out into a dark, incredibly well knitted, triple balanced in fruit, earth & herbs, yielding into dark spice with a little palate heat on the long set & persists longer than minutes.
  
  The 1997 still has 10–15 years of good drinking ahead. Properly stored of course.

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