By Heitz Wine Cellars
Martha's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville, Napa Valley

Background
In the mid-1960s, Joe Heitz and Tom May made an agreement to source Cabernet Sauvignon fruit from May's small Oakville vineyard for Heitz wines. Ever since 1966, Heitz Cellar has been crafting the now-illustrious Martha's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, one of our three vineyard-designated Cabernet Sauvignons.

Vineyard
Tucked against the Mayacamas Mountains in the celebrated Oakville AVA, with fertile, well-drained soil and afternoon shade, this superior site is home to the unique proprietary Cabernet clone, which has brought this vineyard legendary status. Standing in Martha's Vineyard, you quickly realize why this site consistently produces a remarkable Cabernet Sauvignon. The vineyard receives gentle morning and early afternoon sunlight and is sheltered from the heat of the late afternoon sun by the mountains. This allows for longer hang time, and Martha's Vineyard is, historically, one of the last vineyards we pick. This ability to leave the fruit on the vine longer than other sites allows for concentration of flavor and softening of tannin, producing a wine pure in its expression of place. The consistency in showcasing Martha's Vineyard's unique mint, bay leaf, dark berry, and chocolate notes year after year is a reminder of why this vineyard has commanded a faithful following since the 1966 vintage.

Production
The exclusive Cabernet "Martha's Clone" is known for producing small berries with an intensely purple hue, deeply concentrated flavor, and a distinctive minty aroma. During aging, only the best barrels from the vineyard are selected and bottled as our Martha's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. Spending a year in neutral oak tanks after fermentation, the wine is allowed to settle and refine itself. Next, it is barreled down to hand-selected, 100% new French Limousin oak wide-grain barrels, allowing a slow and gentle integration of the toast and vanilla characteristics from the barrel to marry with the wine. Three years later, Martha's Vineyard Cabernet is ready to bottle, whereupon it continues to mature gracefully for another full year before being released from the cellar. A wine full of balance and unique, almost mysterious qualities, Martha's Vineyard is our flagship wine and a true Napa Valley icon.
[Information provided by Heitz Wine Cellars]
[Information is not vintage specific]

Wine: Heitz 2017 Martha's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon (Oakville)
Score/Rating: 96
Suggested Drinking Window: 2023 - 2045
Review Date: 02/13/2023
Reviewed By: Jonathan Cristaldi
Tasting Notes: From the legendary Martha's Vineyards [sic] at the base of the Mayacamas in Western Oakville near To Kalon. It is a lovely, harmonious, richly textured wine with plushness and decadence that remains impressively light. Leads with dark berry flavours, savoury brown spices, bright plummy notes, dark chocolate shavings and mint. Further complexities emerge of ironstone and charcuterie. Medium- to full-bodied with rich black cherry and spiced plum fruit, intermixed with sweet earthen hummus notes, tobacco, and leather. Pops of wild herbs carry through the finish, underscored by soft, almost powdery tannins and bright acid tension. There's a special quality in the air around Martha's Vineyard because of the towering Eucalyptus trees along the eastern parameter [sic] where the Martha's Vineyard clone takes on some of those minty notes.

Wine: 2017 Heitz Cabernet Sauvignon Martha's Vineyard
Score/Rating: 95
Suggested Drinking Window: 2025 - 2040
Review Date: 03/31/2023
Reviewed By: Joe Czerwinski
Tasting Notes: The 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Martha's Vineyard boasts gentle eucalyptus and vanilla shadings accenting bolder notes of cassis and black cherries. It's medium to full-bodied and firmly structured, aristocratic even, with a streamlined shape on the palate and a long, silky-textured finish.

Wine: Heitz Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville Martha's Vineyard 2017
Score/Rating: 94
Suggested Drinking Window: Drink now through 2040
Review Date: 11/15/2023
Reviewed By: James Molesworth
Tasting Notes: Delivers lovely mint and sweet bay leaf notes mixed with iris and hibiscus accents, before giving way to a sleek, fine-grained core built on gently mulled red currant and cherry fruit, along with worn cedar, savory and sanguine notes. Keeps nice tension at the core while showcasing a flirtatious edge. Best from 2024 through 2040.

Wine: Heitz 2017 Martha's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon (Oakville)
Score/Rating: 94
Suggested Drinking Window: Best from 2026-2040
Review Date: 09/01/2023
Reviewed By: Jim Gordon
Tasting Notes: This is an agile, muscular wine built on nervy acidity and braced with tannins that enliven red cherries, raspberries, smoky tea and hints of sage and cedar. Not too full in body, the wine maintains an elegant, lively texture. Best from 2026-2040.