Heitz Wine Cellars Heitz Cellar Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 750ml

A pure, balanced and fresh Napa cabernet that is not just showing heady concentration and dark fruit. Here you get some violets, nimble flowers, redcurrants, graphite and fine spices. Some oranges, too. Fragrant and nuanced. Medium to full body with tight yet refined tannins. Rather linear, tense and elegant, but lacking neither power nor definition. Better to give it a few years to deliver more complexity. (James Suckling)

Dark fruit aromas of blackberries, bitter chocolate, dried herbs, blackcurrants, black olives and graphite. The palate is full-bodied with a textural, rounded mouthfeel and finely integrated tannins, leading to a savory, fruit-driven finish. Delicious. Drink or hold.

Ripe, fresh and focused, with a lovely beam of red currant plum coulis that stretches out alongside hints of savory, violet, tobacco and singed cedar. Finishes with a late twang of iron. Nicely done. Drink now through 2038.

Heitz is on a later release schedule than most other Napa producers, so the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon was the current release when I tasted with Lawrence Wine Estates CEO Carlton McCoy in August 2025. It's a classically proportioned wine, with cedar, vanilla and black cherries all delivered via a medium- to full-bodied palate. It shows excellent structure for an entry-level wine, firm but approachable, with a lengthy finish. It should be a steakhouse staple, and while not inexpensive, it is a solid effort for the price.

Deep black-currant and blackberry flavors come with a warm, rounded texture bolstered by fine-grained tannins in this concentrated and mouth-filling wine. Hints of mint and dark chocolate enhance the aroma and continue through the finish. Best 2025–2035. (Jim Gordon)

Lots of ripe blue fruits, sappy herbs, and some background minerality as well as a touch of oak emerge from the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon, a medium-bodied, beautifully balanced, elegant Cabernet from this estate that’s drinkable today yet will evolve for 15–20 years in cold cellars. It’s one for the old school Cabernet lovers out there. (Jeb Dunnuck)

Heitz's regular 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon features a slightly minty-eucalyptus edge, cherries and a hint of leather. Medium-bodied and concentrated, this is silky and fine, finishing a bit tart. Personally, I'd prefer to see more mid-palate richness, but that's not the style being pursued here. (Joe Czerwinski)