My wife had ‘game night’ with her small crew last night - always a La Crema fest, including last night. Someone brought over a ’93 Heitz (Napa, not Heitz) last night - random. No decent recent notes on CT, and the drinking window makes me think it’s long since shot, so I’ll open it soon. Wondering if anyone has had it recently (not Martha’s, not Trailside, nor Bella Oaks, unfortunately), and if so, what were your thoughts?
Only one way to find out. Let us know how it is.
Wasn’t Heitz hit with phylloxera in the early 90’s? Curious how the 90’s are in general from Heitz as well.
Opened it yet Todd?
Tonight, can’t wait much longer, given what I’ve read about it. Capsule looks great, cork maybe SLIGHTLY indented. We’ll see!
I can’t remember which year of the Heitz base Napa I had during that era but it was likely in the 94-97 era, and I seem to recall it being kind of thin. Hopefully its better today.
Todd,
If you don’t mind older cabs (we find a lot of cabs like this to be on the later side but still within an enjoyable drinking window), I bet this one will show quite well. Even their regular Napa cab.
Ok, tonight was the night to open it, just out of curiosity, as it’s obviously not a great bottle or anything famous or important.
The cork was TOAST. Dust dry on the top half, completely stuck to the bottle the bottom half. Double corkscrews didn’t help, and this is also the first wine I’ve had where The Durand didn’t work either, as the bottom half of the cork was soaked but also sticking to the glass. Pushed much of it in, slow, careful decant over a screen to catch all the cork bits.
Very nice wine overall! On the thin side, for Napa of this age. Really nice sweet dark fruit, good dose of anise makes it stand out a bit. Tannins are mostly resolved but there’s still a bit of bite in the wine so it’s not syrupy. Tends a bit toward the sweet side, almost racy, and perhaps slightly more advanced than a 1993 might otherwise be in many characteristics, such as finish, tannic structure. Color is bold, deep red, edges slightly bricking. Very pleased overall.
Good to hear that it showed well. For some reason, I thought Heitz was hit with phylloxera in the early 90’s so was curious how their wines were from that era. I may have been wrong.
I enjoyed some 1993 trail side this year. Nothing mind blowing but fun to drink.
They did do some mass replanting in that era, but I never heard the motivation.
It sounds like the cork did its job, even if it was not a pretty extraction/pop
That’s interesting. Doesn’t seem like they skipped a year during the early 90’s so maybe specific vineyards were hit, but they were able to get the fruit from somewhere else?