TN: Old Heitz reach new heights

I bought a case 0f 1976 "Martha's" shortly after release, and it has been stored properly. I still have a few bottles. It perhaps had a tiny bit more fruit a few years ago, and has since not developed enough added complexity to add much of interest new. It likely will keep several more years. It would have been nice if you had the 1970 and 1974 "Martha's" for comparison with the others, but if one did not buy these much earlier than the present, they would now cost very much.

One of the most unusual wines that Heitz made was NV "Cellar Treasure" Angelica. It was a sweet wine and decent, but any wine maker of high repute had to be brave indeed to name any wine Angelica. Angelica apparently was named after LA long ago, and it was a very cheap, sweet, white, fortified wine often bought by street people in California because it offered the most alcohol for the price along with so-called port, sherry, madeira, and Tokay, although there were better versions of these. I still have a bottle of Heitz's NV Angelica which I bought sometime in the 1970s.

Hey, I would have happily tasted those two, but this tasting was put together because John is doing a Heitz article for his newsletter. Andy volunteered to bring some vintages John didn't have recent notes from, it was targeted. John had several recent notes on the 74 Martha's (which I've only tasted due to Andy's generosity in past), and I'd guess 70 as well. I suspect it would have been a bit presumptuous of me to insist that he bring another $1000 74 (since I was bringing an '84 Bella Oaks which is available for under $100). :)

Andy mentioned he had been a buyer of the '78 for a long time, feeling it was 90% of the 1974, at less than 20% of price.

The reason we didn't have those vintages was John is doing a Heitz article, he and Andy (who has a rather extensive collection of Martha's) were aiming for the vintages that John didn't have a recent vintage of. I've never had the '70, but thanks to Andy recently had the '74. The Angelica sounds interesting. Mission grapes?

Incredible notes..thanks. I still have a lot of Heitz left in my cellar but the 1974 and 1978 are both long gone. My experience with the 1985 is that there is a lot of bottle variation. I drank a bottle with Joe Heitz many years ago and he told me that his son made the wine as he was recovering from a heart attack...iirc...and it was David's first vintage in charge.

I am looking at a bottle of Heitz Cellar, Cellar Treasure Angelica, as I write. Additional text on the label is: "A mellow heritage of Old California. Bottle No.568 of a total of 6125 bottles;Perfected and Bottled in Our Cellar by Heitz Wine Cellars; St Helena, California; alc. 22% by vol." There is still a price sticker. for US$ 6.95 on the bottle.For this price, you could get a quite decent table wine back then, while a skid row favorite could be in the $ 1.00 range per bottle, especially in jugs.

"Perfected and bottled in our cellar by Heitz Wine Cellars" means Heitz bought wine or several wines from others, and perhaps blended it, perhaps fortified it, and then aged it in the Heitz cellar. What grapes were used is not indicated. The 22% alcohol content indicates that the wine likely was fortified. Mission grapes might have been used in the distant past by some, but the bulk of low end Angelica and so-called California Port, Madeira, Sherry, and Tokay likely usually were made from the cheapest grapes, even table grapes, often from hot regions such as the central valley. Even in the 70s the traditional skid row wines were being replaced by brand name cheap wines.

I posted several hours ago but do not see the post, so I will try again. Google Groups is changing their format, and some posts, starting last weekend, have not appeared for 2 to 4 days, and some may have been lost. To make matters worse, Yahoo Mail has just made great changes in format, but that should not matter for Usenet posts unless someone tries to contact you at Yahoo Mail.

I am looking at a bottle of Heitz Cellar, Cellar Treasure Angelica, as I write. Additional text on the label is: "A mellow heritage of Old California. Bottle No.568 of a total of 6125 bottles; Perfected and Bottled in Our Cellar by Heitz Wine Cellars; St Helena, California; alc. 22% by vol." There is still a price sticker. for US$ 6.95 on the bottle.For this price, you could get a quite decent table wine back then, while a skid row favorite could be in the $ 1.00 range per bottle, especially in jugs.

"Perfected and bottled in our cellar by Heitz Wine Cellars" means Heitz bought wine or several wines from others, and perhaps blended it, perhaps fortified it, and then aged it in the Heitz cellar. What grapes were used is not indicated. The 22% alcohol content indicates that the wine likely was fortified. Mission grapes might have been used in the distant past by some, but the bulk of low end Angelica and so-called California Port, Madeira, Sherry, and Tokay likely usually were made from the cheapest grapes, even table grapes, often from hot regions such as the central valley. Even in the 70s the traditional skid row wines were being replaced by brand name cheap wines.

This is the 3'rd time I have tried to post this message. Google Groups is making a major change, and since last weekend some posts there do not show or are delayed by up to a few days. Thus my 2 earlier posts may or may not show up. This problem has happened for all Usenet groups to which I post. Also Yahoo mail has made major changes recently. This should cause no problem with Usenet groups unless perhaps if someone tries to send you an email reply from a group post. I have the pay Yahoo mail account, and since their updates I have had a problem with some mail such as from the NY Times being delivered to the junk mail folder. I mark it as non-junk and it works for a while - then reverts to junk again.

I am looking at a bottle of Heitz Cellar, Cellar Treasure Angelica, as I write. Additional text on the label is: "A mellow heritage of Old California. Bottle No.568 of a total of 6125 bottles;Perfected and Bottled in Our Cellar by Heitz Wine Cellars; St Helena, California; alc. 22% by vol." There is still a price sticker. for US$ 6.95 on the bottle.For this price, you could get a quite decent table wine back then, while a skid row favorite could be in the $ 1.00 range per bottle, especially in jugs.

"Perfected and bottled in our cellar by Heitz Wine Cellars" means Heitz bought wine or several wines from others, and perhaps blended it, perhaps fortified it, and then aged it in the Heitz cellar. What grapes were used is not indicated. The 22% alcohol content indicates that the wine likely was fortified. Mission grapes might have been used in the distant past by some, but the bulk of low end Angelica and so-called California Port, Madeira, Sherry, and Tokay likely usually were made from the cheapest grapes, even table grapes, often from hot regions such as the central valley. Even in the 70s the traditional skid row wines were being replaced by fantasy brand name cheap wines.

"cwdjrxyz" wrote .....

Yes, and I got all three :-)))