Bought from a local shop in Portland to celebrate the life of a late loved one over a fantastic meal. Decanted 90 minutes prior to eating and it had opened the nose a bit with red berries – tart cherries, slightly less than ripe strawberry, and currant. Medium to pale ruby color. Medium tannins that refused to go away. After 2-2.5 hours it had a weird acidic period that drowned out the fruit. Once past that it was great – tannins died down, a very very small amount of tobacco and maybe licorice came through.
This was my first real foray into aged wines and overall it was…ok? I’m assuming past its prime, just didn’t have great depth or tertiary notes that I thought would develop with how lovely the tobacco notes in the 2018 vintage currently are.
$150
89pts?
by No-Statistician2006
8 Comments
I have a 2016 of this in my cellar been debating if I should open or wait. You’re tempting me towards opening.
Your dog is adorable
I opened a 2005 Leoville Las Cases recently and while it’s different than Napa, we decanted it for like 4-6 hours prior to drinking. When I told this to my local wine store’s steward, he thought that was a mistake. So all that’s to say – maybe it didn’t need decanting? I’ve heard mixed things though. But I suppose if you have the time, it’s always best to open and try some and see how it evolves over the course of the evening.
Figuring out aged wine is tough though. So far, the only revelation I’ve had with aged wine was a 1988 Biondi Santi Riserva, which I had a coravin pour of. Truly breathtaking wine. 1988 Chateau D’Yquem was incredible too. But Bordeaux is still something I’m trying to figure out.
Sad to hear it wasn’t superb. Heitz is my favorite from Napa.
I love old Heitz, but I never decant them, I don’t think I’ve ever had a bottle open more than an hour before it’s ready to drink.
At that age, I wouldn’t have decanted. At 24 years old, it’s peaked and opening it and waiting would have resulted in what you described. California wines are just not meant to have that long of a shelf life.
Nice dog. Sorry the wine didn’t turn out for you though. There’s a nice Heitz vertical tasting Andre Mack did on YouTube. You may want to check that one out.
Mum’s favorite is Martha’s Vineyard from Heinz. I grew up seeing a lot of this label 😂