1975 | Heitz Wine Cellar | Martha’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

Introduction

Red Wine: 1975 | Heitz Wine Cellar | Martha’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

Complex aromatics of red and black fruit, cedarwood, dried rose and cocoa are followed by a powerful, beautifully balanced wine with a firm core of tannin, fruit and fresh acids.

Order from the Largest & Most Trusted Premium Spirits Marketplace!

Featured in

• ROLLING STONE
• MEN’S JOURNAL
• US WEEKLY

NOTICE: Many other small liquor store sites may end up cancelling your order due to the high demand, unavailability or inaccurate inventory counts. We have partnerships consisting of a large network of licensed retailers from within the United States, Europe and across the world ensuring orders are fulfilled.

Producer: Heitz Wine Cellar

Ratings: JG | 97 D | 99

Vintage: 1975

Size: 750ml

ABV: 13.5%

Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon

Country/Region: United States, California

Complex aromatics of red and black fruit, cedarwood, dried rose and cocoa are followed by a powerful, beautifully balanced wine with a firm core of tannin, fruit and fresh acids.

Reviews:

• John Gilman: The more I drink California cabernets from the decade of the 1970s, the more I am convinced that I have a slight preference for the style of the 1975s over their more highly touted brethren from the riper year of 1974. The brilliant 1975 Marthas Vineyard is certainly pretty persuasive evidence that 1975 is indeed a great, great year for cabernet in Napa, as the wine is beautifully deep, pure and still a tad on the young side at age thirty-six! The magical and deep-pitched nose offers up a great mlange of black cherries, petroleum jelly, cigar smoke, leather, a touch of chipotles, coffee and a very complex base of soil tones. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and powerfully built, with impeccable focus and balance, a rock solid core of fruit, still a bit of tannin to resolve, superb, tangy acids and simply stunning length and grip on the perfectly poised and refined finish. A wine of First Growth depth and dimension by any stretch of the imagination.

• Decanter: I have nothing but admiration for Heitz Cellar, and writing a profile on them this year gave me an excuse to try a number of bottles of their wines. While the 1974 Marthas Vineyard tends to win all the attention, the 1975 also clearly ranks as one of the most thrilling Napa Cabernets produced during the 20th century, and I really like the wines tension and reserve. Complex aromatics of red and black fruit, cedarwood, dried rose and cocoa are followed by a powerful, beautifully balanced wine with a firm core of tannin, fruit and fresh acids. A few hours in the decanter really help this still-youthful Cabernet expatiate. To my palate, this could go head to head with the handful of great wines produced in Bordeaux in 1975 such as La Mission Haut Brion and Ptrus.

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.