Winemaker Notes
In the early 1960's, Joe and Alice Heitz envisioned crafting the most distinguished Chardonnay in Napa Valley. They learned under legends like Fred and Eleanor McRea from Stony Hill Vineyards up on Spring Mountain. With those ambitious goals in mind, Heitz Cellar carries on their legacy through the expression of the Quartz Creek Vineyard Chardonnay. Situated at the foothills of the Mayacamas Mountains and blanketed by the morning fog from the Petaluma Gap, this site continues to produce our most elegant and refined expression of Chardonnay. Always sustainably farmed and vinified in the classic style to evoke the purest characteristics of the land where the grapes are grown.
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2021 Chardonnay Quartz Creek Vineyard is fabulous and also a step up from the 2020 tasted alongside it. Effusive floral top notes open first. Silky and creamy on the palate, with gorgeous finesse, the 2021 is, first and foremost, a wine of harmony. Low yields created by drought and a cool, long growing season yielded an especially intense young Chardonnay.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Cool and almost mentholated on the nose, with concentrated lime essence, the 2021 Chardonnay Quartz Creek Vineyard is the only Chardonnay currently made by Heitz, using fruit from this Burgess-owned vineyard in Oak Knoll. It's medium-bodied, linear in feel and quite tight, with a long, taut finish.
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Wine Spectator
An impressively supple, creamy texture establishes the groundwork for this lovely, elegant wine, with flavors of toasted and salted cashew, lemon curd and pear pastry. Offers a hint of crushed rocks on the finish. Drink now. 1,310 cases made.
Renowned for crafting Napa Valley's first cult wines, Heitz Cellar is globally recognized as the crown jewel of American wine. The timeless post-Prohibition style of winemaking endures with esteemed winemaker, Brittany Sherwood, producing elegant and balanced wines sourced from 100% organic and biodynamic Napa Valley fruit. Pioneering pure varietal, single-vineyard wines that can age for decades, including the iconic Martha’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Heitz Cellar wines hail from the region’s most premier vineyard sites including Oakville, Rutherford, Howell Mountain, St. Helena, and Oak Knoll. Family-owned since its founding in 1961, Heitz Cellar continues to embody the artistry and legacy of classic winemaking with single-vineyard wines that position it as one of the world’s leading wine estates.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
As one of Napa’s coolest sub-appellations, the area begs for diversity among its vineyards. Merlot and Chardonnay firmly compete with Cabernet Sauvignon for a place here. Some of Napa’s best Zinfandels also come from the Oak Knoll District.
Situated far in Napa’s southern end, Oak Knoll receives a strong cooling influence from both the San Pablo Bay and the Pacific Coast’s evening fog and breezes. Summer days are warm but on average ten degrees cooler than in St. Helena farther north up the valley; summer nights are chilly. A long growing season promotes for leisurely ripening of grape berries, resulting in an impressive balance of sugars, phenols and acidity.
Notable producers include Trefethen, one of the appellation’s oldest wineries, Robert Biale, legendary Zinfandel producer and Lewis Cellars, a family-run, hands-on establishment.