Rick Phillips

9.6

After 35 years I was not expecting much. Especially when the cork disintegrated on opening. Aureated on decanting and was happily surprised. After about 20 minutes opened to dark chocolate, leather but so smooth. The last glass was pure delight. Howell Mountain at its best! — 5 months ago

with Letha

Mark Goldstein

9.7

Ch Neuf Vieux Tele ‘11. Perfection- balanced, nuanced - fulsome yet supple and not cloying. light on its feet, with taste , finish… yes please I’ll have more. Drank 11/19/24 at A Cote, Oaktown — 6 months ago

Doug Powers

9.3

Great color, still very youthful at age 25, this paired perfectly with some farm-raised elk loins we purchased in Reno 3 months ago that I grilled on the Weber, complex, long finish, really quite fine!! — 7 months ago

with Jim

Wine Dad

8.9

Had at Smith & Wollensky. — a year ago

Meg Herring

9.4

Raspberries, lilacs, wet stone, earthiness. At first the body feels plush and bouncy but then you get bolts of acidity to balance things out. There’s so much depth and complexity. — 6 years ago

Marc vanholst

9.1

At 63 years of age it still displays some freshness - it’s best days are nevertheless over. — 7 years ago

Michael Mathews

9.1

At Redstone w/Shelly. Just back from Orlando w/Rettke. #pro — 10 years ago

with Rick, Jeff and 2 others

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.5

2013 vintage. Decanted with a little sed. Great cork. Tremendous power and on the leaner side of the ledger...think bigg vintage Leoville Las Cases or 80's/early 90's Montelena or *gasp* La Jota before the Helen Turley fruit bomb intervention in the early 90’s. Drinking a little "hot" but only at 14.9% ABV. Definite palate-wrecker with tannins for daze. Will take this wine in their lineup nearly every time vs the pricier and smoother Pritchard Hill shizz. The off the charts QPR is easily tasted vs the rest of their Cab/Cab-based lineup. Awesome now but will consolidate even further into a wolverine wine. Be very afraid. If you're looking for a quiet, placid dinner for two, then a rom-com snugglefest, this is not your beautiful house. This is someone else's beautiful wife. 12.01.24. — 5 months ago

Antra Stabler

9.1

Easy drinking, Non-offensive red. Found at Cotsco. — 7 months ago

John Chawluk

9.2

Wonderful. Opened up beautifully. 2016 and not oxidized at all. Kudos to the wine cellar! — 7 months ago

with Scotti

Jae Cho

9.2

First go with the ‘16 and it’s got the blackberry, plum, tobacco and mineral that just goes on and on. A silky 12.5% it rivals any previous vintage. Drunk over 3 days and it’s still elegant at the last sip. — 3 years ago

tbc

9.6

Enjoyed 2 bottles at the PDC with Meredith and the Houstons. Wow a must repeat. — 6 years ago

Mark Flesher

9.5

Wine of the night. This wine had EXCELLENT fruit, and showed NO VISIBLE SIGNS of decline. Great powerful blackberry. I was guessing 01 Stag's Leap or Rutherford. Turns out it was Caymus SS 01, but I was second guessing myself on the year because it was a very purple color into the decanter and showing well. The wine had great vanilla on the front, blackberry on the front, and a more youthful middle and finish with some herb. This wine has 10 years left in it no doubt. Whoever cut this one off at 2017 has no idea. This one literally showed no signs of decline whatsoever. Drink by date 2007 - 2030. — 8 years ago

Daniel Perez

9.0

Wine at Luly and Rubin's house — 11 years ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.0

Medium deep ruby , quite narrow rim . Touch of earthy menthol , tobacco , spicy blackcurrant, grafite . On the palate quite dusty , with earthy sous bois , blackcurrant, ripe blackberry , grafite and tobacco , cocoa hints. Quite rich but balanced , good acidity, quite dusty tannins . This is probably at peak now though will last well another decade perhaps . — 5 months ago

Shay A

9.5

After missing a ‘70s and ‘80s Heitz vertical many years ago, I vowed to seek out a bottle as all the comments from the tasting were astoundingly positive. My last bottle of Heitz Martha’s was the ‘01 (which was great) a few years ago, but at 46yrs, this was quite the experience.

The ‘78 has a bit of a legendary status, so expectations were high. Upon opening, the cork was in good shape (sigh of relief) and the color was unbelievably dark ruby with some bricking (another sigh of relief). The singular signature menthol/eucalyptus began to fill the glass, alongside aromatics of red berry fruits, espresso, some sort of sweet brown sugar/caramel note, and a savory-graphite type note too. Beautifully elegant on the palate with more red fruit, herbs (bay leaf?), and even some pipe tobacco (subdued, not in your face), but it sports the classical old Napa cab profile that is pure. Spectacular wine, and I could simply smell the wine all day…the aromatics were so powerful the entire time.

Open in bottle for three hours and powered through the entire time. Wish I had another so I could have the same experience! — 5 months ago

Scott E. Becker

9.2

[Tasted on July 27, 2024 at l’Ete du Vin with Steve, Ned and Beth]

Black currant and fig fruit, with forest floor notes. — 9 months ago

KD

9.1

Medium straw colour with a beautiful mousse. On the nose, lemon, pear, yeast and toast. Nice light body with perfect tiny bubbles that made the perlage super velvety in the mouth, a nice contrast to the crisp acidity. Notes of asian pear, white peach and apple, lemon and at times almost like ethanol and some toast with lingering hazelnut and ginger on the long finish. Not sure if our bottle was slightly off with the ethanol taste that came up once in a while. Will have to try another bottle. For science. — 3 years ago

George Hesse

9.2

Another amazing bottle. At the Ken Wegner Hunt 2019. — 6 years ago

Nicole Penalva

9.0

First bottle of the evening on New Year's Eve. Top rated wine of 2015 in Wine Enthusiast. Available at Target and Trader Joes $19.99 — 9 years ago