1985 | Heitz Wine Cellar | Martha’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

Red Wine: 1985 | Heitz Wine Cellar | Martha’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

The wine is flat out brilliant, as it soars from the glass in a mlange of black cherries, saddle leather, a great base of soil tones, eucalyptus, smoke, incipient notes of petroleum jelly and a very gentle framing of new oak.

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Producer: Heitz Wine Cellar

Ratings: WA | 94 JG | 96

Vintage: 1985

Size: 750ml

ABV: 13.5%

Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon

Country/Region: United States, California

The wine is flat out brilliant, as it soars from the glass in a mlange of black cherries, saddle leather, a great base of soil tones, eucalyptus, smoke, incipient notes of petroleum jelly and a very gentle framing of new oak.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: In the March tasting (my seventh look at this brilliant wine), I found it once again to be clean and hardly controversial – unless explosive richness and ripeness, as well as gobs of sweet fruit presented in a full-bodied, powerful style are objectionable. The wine was more developed and open than I expected. The mint/eucalyptus character, which can be extremely intense in the Martha’s Vineyard cuvee, was presented in a subtle fashion.

• John Gilman: I can distinctly recall from my early days in the wine trade the release of the 1985 Marthas Vineyard, which was eagerly anticipated after it was announced that this was the first vintage to be graced with a special label since the legendary 1974. This was at the height of the winerys popularity and the 1985 Marthas was an extremely difficult bottle to come by at the time of its release. Consequently, I had not seen a bottle in many years and was delighted to see it included in our vertical at the winery in June. The wine is flat out brilliant, as it soars from the glass in a mlange of black cherries, saddle leather, a great base of soil tones, eucalyptus, smoke, incipient notes of petroleum jelly and a very gentle framing of new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and powerful, with a rock solid core of fruit, great complexity, moderate tannins and a very long, perfectly balanced, tangy and palate-staining finish. This is a very intense vintage of Marthas that is decidedly younger than the 1987 for instance, and still demands plenty of cellaring time. It will clearly prove to be a legendary vintage of Marthas and certainly has earned its special label.

Producer Information

Heitz Wine Cellar is an iconic Napa Valley wine producer located just south of St Helena. It is most famous for its single vineyard wines made of Cabernet Sauvignon, and in particular the Martha’s Vineyard wine, which is one of Napa’s “Cult Cabernet” labels. The estate was founded by Joe Heitz in 1961. Heitz had been a professor in the enology department of California State University in Fresno, and had previously assisted the legendary pioneering California winemaker Andr Tchelistcheff at Beaulieu Vineyards. Wanting to begin his own project, Heitz bought eight acres (3.4 hectares) of vineyards that were mostly planted with the Italian Grignolino grape. Heitz Cellars continues to make a wine from this variety today. As with many Napa producers, Heitz’s success has been associated with its flagship Cabernet Sauvignon wines. Heitz is the exclusive lease holder of the 35 acre (14 hectare) Martha’s Vineyard in the Oakville AVA and has used its fruit to produce vineyard-designated varietal Cabernet Sauvignon wines from the 1966 vintage. The estate runs vineyards across the wider Napa Valley area, with sites in Oakville, Rutherford, St Helena, Howell Mountain, Oak Knoll District, and Calistoga. Until recently, Heitz generally shied away from using Napa’s sub-AVA titles, choosing instead to use the more generic Napa Valley AVA along with the vineyard name. The style of Heitz’s Cabernet Sauvignon wines has remained consistent over the years. The winery uses French oak over American, and fruit is harvested slightly earlier than much of the rest of the region, giving a wine that is slightly higher in acidity than most. Heitz makes a range of other wines from Cabernet Sauvignon, as well as from other classic Napa varieties like Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Zinfandel. Heitz was bought by Arkansas-based billionaire Gaylon Lawrence in 2018 and is now part of the Lawrence Family group of holdings which spans interests in agriculture and farming, banking and commercial real estate.