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Heitz Wine Cellars is a winery in California’s Napa Valley with 350 acres of vineyards including its “Martha’s Vineyard” and "Bella Oaks Vineyard,” each with a unique terroir.
The winery was established in 1961 by Joe and Alice Heitz. Mr. Heitz received bachelor and master’s degrees in viticulture and enology from the University of California at Davis and established the viticulture program at Fresno State College.
In the San Diego wine tasting of 1975 wine, 28 experienced wine experts rated blind eight Bordeaux and two California Cabernet Sauvignons from the 1970 vintage. Heitz Wine Cellars Martha’s Vineyard came in first. Château Latour and Château Mouton Rothschild tied for second place. That same vintage later gained international recognition for Heitz Wine Cellars at the historic Paris Wine Tasting of 1976.
One of the most significant subsequent blind tastings was held at the Four Seasons Hotel in the Canadian capital of Ottawa on January 18, 1981. The Ottawa Wine Tasting of 1981 was on "neutral territory" and pitted wines from California against those from France. Heitz Wine Cellars Martha's Vineyard won third place and was one of five California wines that defeated Château Lafite-Rothschild, Château Mouton-Rothschild, Château Latour, Château Margaux and Château Haut-Brion, all from the excellent Bordeaux vintage of 1970. These are all First Growths (Premiers Crus) as established by the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855 and are France's finest.
In the Wine Spectator Wine Tasting of 1986, blind tasters evaluated how the Cabernet Sauvignons had aged ten years after the Paris event. The 1970 Heitz Martha's Vineyard was ranked number one. It was followed by the 1971 Mayacamas Vineyards, the 1971 Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello, the 1973 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, and the 1971 Clos Du Val Winery. Ranked at number six was the 1971 Château Montrose, followed by the 1970 Château Mouton-Rothschild, the 1971 Château Leoville Las Cases, the 1969 Freemark Abbey Winery, and the 1970 Château Haut-Brion.
The Wine Rematch of the Century was held on the 30th anniversary of the original Paris competition to evaluate how the wines had aged. The two panels of expert judges awarded Heitz Wine Cellars third place, tied with Mayacamas Vineyards. The French wines all fell into the bottom half of rankings. The results for Heitz Wine Cellars and the other California wines are impressive, especially given the fact that most of the wineries from which they came had been making wine for only a few decades. Their competitors all came from chateaux that had acquired prestige high enough by 1855 to have been classified in the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855 as being among the very best in Bordeaux.
In addition, three of the four Bordeaux wines in the competition were from the 1970 vintage, identified by the Conseil Interprofessionel du Vin de Bordeaux as among the four best vintages in the past 45 years or more. The fourth Bordeaux was a 1971, described by the Conseil as "very good" *.
It had been argued that Bordeaux wines don’t achieve their full potential for years. However, as these results indicate, California wines increased their rankings over time whereas their French competitors declined.
Source
- Taber, George M. ''Judgment of Paris: California vs. France and the Historic 1976 paris Tasting theat revolutionized Wine’’. NY: Scribner, 2005.
External links
"Heitz Wine Cellars"