Heitz Cellar Trailside Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon (1.5 Liter Magnum) 2014
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The silky tannins and tightly wound core of this wine are hallmark signs of this vintage’s aging potential. Blackberry, ripe raspberry, cassis liqueur, and briar notes fill the glass and are complemented by an earthy sweetness that Trailside has become synonymous with. Fresh vanilla, toasted nuts, and baking spice characteristics from the Limousin oak give an elegant lift to the ripe fruit notes.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
From a Rutherford site, this 100% varietal, estate wine is aged similarly to the producer's fine Martha's Vineyard bottling, given plenty of time in new and neutral oak as well as in bottle. Beguiling spice and a warmth of red fruit provide tangy freshness around lengthy layers of salty oak, iron and baked plum.
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Wine Spectator
Juicy, with an engaging mix of red currant, blood orange and raspberry coulis fruit, laced with rooibos tea, mineral, sassafras and mineral notes. Ripe and tightly focused, showing a racy edge that imparts nice lift from start to finish. Best from 2020 through 2035.
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Decanter
Elegant yet dense concentrated nose of sweet blackberries, fine oak and complex black fruit flavours. Ripe and forward on the palate.
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Wine & Spirits
From an organically farmed estate vineyard in eastern Rutherford, between the Silverado Trail and Conn Creek, this is a complex and mature cabernet ready to drink on release. The tight structure marries gentle tannins and kirsch-like cherry fruit while the secondary aromas of cigar tobacco and roses last long into the finish. It’s a refined style, with enough luscious fruit to keep it firmly rooted in Napa Valley.
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Family owned since its founding in 1961, Heitz Cellar’s legacy runs as deep as the roots throughout the Napa Valley; a winery legend that has helped shape the history of Napa Valley winemaking. In the late 1950’s, pioneering vintner Joe Heitz ushered in Napa’s modern era with his iconic, globally celebrated wines, including Napa Valley’s first vineyard-designated Cabernet Sauvignon, the renowned Heitz Cellar Martha’s Vineyard. Fifty-eight years of the Heitz family’s dedication to viticulture, stewardship, and classic winemaking, maintained the winery’s notoriety as a benchmark amongst its peers in California and Europe.
In April, 2018, Heitz Cellar entered an exciting new chapter as this rich legacy was passed into the hands of the Lawrence family, whose deep roots in agriculture and commitment to the same core values of fine winemaking made it a perfect match. The wines are made with an unwavering commitment to quality from organically farmed, 100% Napa Valley fruit, and a commitment to the sustainability of Napa Valley.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
The Rutherford sub-region of Napa Valley centers on the town of Rutherford and covers some of Napa Valley’s finest vineyard real estate, spanning from the Mayacamas in the west, to the Vaca Mountains on the other side of the valley.
Inside of the Rutherford AVA, bordering the Mayacamas, is a stretch of uplands called the Rutherford Bench. (These bench lands technically run the length of Oakville as well). Mountain runoff creates deep, well-drained, alluvial soils on the bench, giving vine roots plenty of reason to permeate deep into the ground. The result is wine with great structure and complexity.
Rutherford Cabernet Sauvingons and Bordeaux Blends garner substantial attention for their enticing fragrances of dusty earth and dried herbs, broad and juicy mid-palates and lush and fine-grained tannins. The sub-appellation claims some of the valley’s most prized vineyards today, namely Caymus, Rubicon and Beckstoffer Georges III.
It is also home to Napa’s most influential and historic personalities. Thomas Rutherford, responsible for the appellation's name, made serious investments here in grape growing and wine production between the years of 1850 to 1880. Gustave Niebaum purchased a large swath of land and completed his winery in 1887, calling it “Inglenook.” Today this remains the oldest bonded winery in California. Georges Latour founded Beaulieu Vineyard in 1900, making it the oldest continuous winery in the state. Latour also hired the famous enologist, André Tchelistcheff, a man credited for single-handedly defining the modern Napa winemaking style.