TN: 2012 Heitz Napa Valley Cabernet (where's the beef?)

Decanted and served blindly.

Sweet, spicy, California pinot nose. Sweet, sort of diffuse palate sensation. Balanced. Red cherry pinot flavors. Little structure. A tad hot on the finish (marked at 14.5%). Soft with lots of sweet cherries.

WTF?? Has this been through the deflavorizer? We all guessed California pinot. I figured probably in the $30 range. Nice enough but no character. When it was unveiled we were dumbfounded.

I gave it 83 points: Potable but pointless.

Usually my problem with today’s Napa cabs is that they’re so ripe that the flavor profile converges with zin and syrah and petite sirah. This was just the opposite – washed out, no concentration or structure and light red candy fruit.

A total sellout.

I was disappointed with 2012s across the board. The 2011 version of this wine is great.

I wouldn’t personally go as low as 83, but found it a bit non descript and kinda meh. Definitely on the lean side for a Napa Cab.

Did you taste it blind? And did you detect any cabernet character at all? It was just shocking when this was unveiled.

Cabernets in general in '12 or the Heitz line-up?

I thought I might need to specify, Napa wines.

Not blind. But, in a way, that left me more surprised (disappointed) because I thought it would be bigger. It definitely tasted like a cab to me, but not a typical Napa Cab as I think of them. Lacked concentration, layers, tannin, power and so on. It was… well, safe. Inoffensive. Needed the steak we had with it, to be honest, to make it enjoyable.

That makes it sound bad. I didn’t think it was bad, just not impressed.

From my CT note: “…drank well though a little leaner and less plush than I expected. Some red fruit qualities and soft tannins that made this food friendly rather than overbearing.”

I’d rarely, if ever, describe a Heitz as ‘big’. They’re solidly in the old school group but rarely get mentioned among the major players in that scene.

Yep, I tried a 12 heitz Napa the other day at like $35 from Costco, as I was going to grab a handful to age for a bit (daughters birth year), but just wasn’t sure what to make of it. Thought it was ‘ok’…but honestly couldn’t say for sure if I liked it very much, let alone whether or not it would get better with age.

Maybe I’ll snag another one soon and give it another shot (Costco has cases of em) as I’m still holding out hope some time sideways will do this wine some good.

I’ve experienced some bottle variation with the 2012’s. 1st bottle was great, complex, medium bodied. 2nd bottle, thin, not much going on, like a $10 wine. 3rd bottle was better, but not up to the first. I have 2 bottles left, but I’m laying them down for awhile.

I’m having trouble reconciling these two sentences. Lack of flavor is not something I associate with CA pinot. Quite the opposite (to the wines’ detriment, I’d say).

It was not an intensely flavored wine, and it seemed like all cabernet flavors had been removed, along with all the structure you’d expect in even a modestly priced cab. It tasted like a $25 pinot to me. As I said: potable but pointless.

Got it

I tasted the heitz lineup a few months ago. Martha’s is absolutely captivating. All other wines were totally non-descript.

I have had both the 2011 and 2012.

2012 was uneventful. 2011 was very tasty. The GF and I popped into Heitz’s tasting room a couple Napa trips ago and was told that the grapes that usually went into Martha’s was instead bottled in their regular Cab for 2011. Perhaps the overriding reason why 2011 was a standout (especially for QPR)

Off topic a bit, but I’ve been digging the '13 Grignolino. It’s aromatic as hell but light bodied and acidic. A great wine for pasta and gravy.

Thanks for that interesting insight.

The 2010 was not that impressive to me

From Heitz:

“Despite our best efforts, much of the Cabernet crop in 2011 did not meet our exacting quality standards for the vineyard-designated wines, so we have decided not to release the 2011 vintage of Martha’s Vineyard or Trailside Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. We thought it best to make this announcement early so that you may prepare for the year ahead. The good news is that the Napa Valley Cabernet will be great.”

How long did you decant for, John?

I had it (non-blind) back in Jan and found it very closed up at first… I remember it being hard as nails, rather than diffuse or lacking in structure.

My notes: "Decanted, at 2 hours was backwards, austere and demanding. Slightly softened by hour 5, and starting to give up some lovely dark fruit, leather, cigar box. "

sounds like a completely different wine!