2018 Heitz Cellar, Martha's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville, Napa Valley, California, USA
Critics reviews
Very pure, vibrant and delineated throughout, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Martha’s Vineyard is marked by strong floral overtones and a mid-weight structure that confers grace. Lifted, elegant and precise, the 2018 is quite attractive. Like all these new releases from Heitz, the Martha’s shows a bit of wood influence from new casks when this wine was made.
Drink 2025 - 2038
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (December 2023)
In a vintage that played to its strengths, the terrific 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Martha's Vineyard is a cool, gently herbal wine, loaded with black cherries and cassis, with just a touch of licorice. It's medium to full-bodied, rich and velvety without being heavy at all, concentrated and intense, with a long, tannic but ripe finish. Give it a few years in the cellar if you can keep your hands off it.
Drink 2026 - 2045
Joe Czerwinski, Wine Advocate (July 2024)
About this WINE
Heitz Cellar
A family-owned estate dating back to 1961, Heitz Cellar is a legendary name throughout Napa Valley and one of the leading pioneers of the region since its creation in the late 1950s by Joe Heitz. The celebrated and much-acclaimed ‘Martha’s Vineyard’ was, in fact, the first vineyard-designated Cabernet Sauvignon to be produced in the valley. Since then, the refined and Bordeaux-esque style of winemaking has become synonymous with the estate as their legacy and notoriety continue to grow globally.
In April 2018, Heitz Cellar entered an exciting new chapter as this rich legacy was passed into the hands of the Lawrence family, whose deep roots in agriculture and commitment to the same core values of fine winemaking made it a perfect match. The wines are made with an unwavering commitment to quality from organically farmed, 100% Napa Valley fruit and a commitment to the sustainability of Napa Valley. The style unquestionably differs from many of the riper, concentrated Cabs produced by some of their neighbours.
Oakville
Oakville is a renowned wine region in the heart of Napa Valley, California, USA. It is considered one of the premier appellations for producing high-quality Cabernet Sauvignon wines. The favourable climate, diverse soil types, and skilled winemaking practices have contributed to Oakville’s reputation as a top wine-producing area.
The primary grape variety is Cabernet Sauvignon, which thrives in the region’s warm climate and well-drained soils. However, you can also find other Bordeaux varietals such as Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec, as well as some white wine grapes like Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.
Oakville benefits from a Mediterranean climate with warm, sunny days and cool nights. The region’s proximity to San Pablo Bay allows for morning fog, which provides natural cooling, making it ideal for slow grape ripening and flavour development.
The diverse soils add to the complexity of the wines produced. The region features a mix of volcanic, alluvial, and sedimentary soils that offer distinct characteristics to the grapes. The Napa River runs through the area, further enriching the soils with sediment deposits.
Oakville is home to some of the most prestigious and iconic wineries in Napa Valley. Prominent names like Robert Mondavi Winery, Opus One, Far Niente, Screaming Eagle, and Harlan Estate have put Oakville on the world wine map.
Winemakers in Oakville employ various traditional and modern winemaking techniques to ensure the highest quality wines. Careful grape selection, hand harvesting, small-lot fermentations, oak barrel aging, and blending are standard practices used to craft complex and balanced wines.
In recognition of the unique terroir and distinct characteristics of the wines produced, Oakville was designated as an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in 1993. This official appellation status further solidifies the region’s significance in the wine industry.
Cabernet Sauvignon
The most famous red wine grape in the world and one of the most widely planted.
It is adaptable to a wide range of soils, although it performs particularly well on well-drained, low-fertile soils. It has small, dusty, black-blue berries with thick skins that produce deeply coloured, full-bodied wines with notable tannins. Its spiritual home is the Médoc and Graves regions of Bordeaux where it thrives on the well-drained gravel-rich soils producing tannic wines with piercing blackcurrant fruits that develop complex cedarwood and cigar box nuances when fully mature.
The grape is widely planted in California where Cabernet Sauvignon based wines are distinguished by their rich mixture of cassis, mint, eucalyptus and vanilla oak. It is planted across Australia and with particular success in Coonawarra where it is suited to the famed Terra Rossa soil. In Italy barrique aged Cabernet Sauvignon is a key component in Super Tuscans such as Tignanello and Sassicaia, either on its own or as part of a blend with Sangiovese.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
From a unique site in the Oakville AVA, the wonderful Martha’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon sees a full five years of maturation before release. After fermentation of the intense, small-berried fruit, the wine spends a year in large, neutral oak barrels. It is then transferred into 100% new Limousin oak barriques for three years. It spends a final year in bottle before release. The resulting wine is rich and full-bodied with great depth of dark fruit, crisp acidity and fine-grained, grippy tannins. Capable of extended ageing, this is a delight to taste now, but it will be better in a year or two and will drink well for decades.
Chris Pollington, Senior Account Manager, Berry Bros. & Rudd
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