2008 Heitz Cabernet Sauvignon

[TheEngineer]

Normally this is a decent little wine but rarely is it one that will wow people like a good Bella or Martha's. Now with no Bella, I think this wine has stepped up in price and performance, at least for this vintage. Now $45 at the winery, it is in heavy competition with many other wines.

However.....this is a decent vintage (see choice of words..), there is good grip, savory, brambly, and there is more than a hint of Martha's in there... then I found out that more than the regular amount of Martha's was "declassified" and used for this wine. It certainly shows and then Martha's is now $400 a mag.... Pricey

[winoweenie]

Thanks Eng I needed that! Joe and Alice were personal friends of mine who came by the house every time they were in Phoenix and we cracked a few. One of the classic winemakers and certainly should be in the 1st "Napa Hall of Fame" should they ever have one. As an aside when the pre-sale (Feb at the tasting room) of the 78 Marthas showed up at 20 I was amazed. Seems like Joe was going to make sure no upstarts like Al Braunstein or Warren Winarski was going to out-price him so he set the release price at a staggering 30 bucks. And so it went. WW

[TheEngineer]

I never miss a chance to stop by their winery. I'm cheap and their tastings are free (something of a novelty now in Napa), so that is a perfect match.

They did not have Martha's open that day so bought the 08 Martha's without trying, but if it is anything like the 07, then they got a great wine. The 07 is fantastic.

The 74 is a wine I've been chasing at auctions and it is getting more and more difficult to get. Last time I had three mags in my grasp or so I thought until a couple of financial guys walked in and paid whatever it took, which was frankly was way more than I could.

[winoweenie]

What a bummer! That and the 78 were Joes' crowning achievments. WW (Along with the 66, 68, 69, 70 )