Cabernet Sauvignon Martha's Vineyard, Heitz Wine Cellar 1972

The 1972 Martha’s Vineyard is a beautiful bottle of wine at its apogee of maturity and is a classic expression of this extravagant and minty Napa Valley crown jewel. The bouquet is deep, very fine and quite serious, as it soars from the glass in a blaze of red and black cherries, coffee beans, a rather gentle note of eucalyptus for Martha’s, smoke, petroleum jelly, a touch of cocoa powder and a beautiful base of complex soil tones. On the palate the wine is full-bodied and just a touch chunky, but with great mid-palate depth of sweet fruit, impeccable balance and a very long, focused and complex finish that closes with superb grip and delineation. A lovely, lovely wine, and a vintage of Martha’s Vineyard that is not as well-known as the 1970 and 1974, but which is not too far off the qualitative pace of those two legendary bottlings.