Heitz Cellar

Heitz Cellar is one of the pioneers of Napa Valley, known for amongst others its legendary Martha's vineyard 1974 and shaping the region’s modern winemaking with a straight focus on quality and tradition.

History
Heitz Cellar was founded in 1961 by Joe and Alice Heitz, in a time when Napa Valley was still recovering from Prohibition with fewer than 20 wineries operating. Joe Heitz, mentored by the famous André Tchelistcheff, bought an eight-acre vineyard south of St. Helena and started building the winery's reputation by producing quality wines.

By 1965, Joe made an exclusive deal to buy Cabernet Sauvignon from the now-famous Martha’s Vineyard, and in 1966 Heitz Cellar became the very first Napa winery to release a vineyard-designated wine. This was a game-changer, setting a new standard for Napa and inspiring many wineries that followed.

The estate grew steadily with other vineyard acquisitions, including a large purchase on Howell Mountain in 1989 and a further expansion of vineyard holdings to over 400 acres. After Joe’s passing in 2000, the winery stayed family-run, with his children Kathleen and David Heitz.

The Vineyards
Heitz Cellar’s vineyards cover around 400 acres spread across top Napa locations like Martha’s Vineyard, which is their flagship, Howell Mountain, St. Helena, and Carneros. Martha’s Vineyard is known for its gravelly, well-drained soils and is located just above St. Helena, producing some of the richest and most structured Cabernet Sauvignon in Napa.

Howell Mountain is cooler and drier. The cooler Carneros region is where Heitz grows Chardonnay.

Overall, the vineyards of Heitz cellars are carefully mainatined with a focus on sustainability and honouring old vines.​

The Terroir
The terroir of the vineyards are very diverse. Martha’s vineyard has deep gravel and rocky soils which makes the vines go deep and work hard, while Howell Mountain’s volcanic soils have a mineral-driven intensity. The elevations vary a lot, there are multiple different microclimates and soil types across their vineyards. These factors make Heitz wines complex and of high quality.

The cool lake influence near St. Helena helps to keep the acidity in the grapes in balance, even in the warm Napa Valley climat. The shady slopes balance the ripeness, which is a signature of their wines.​

Way of Winemaking
At Heitz Cellar the grapes are hand-harvested, hand-sorted, then fermented using a balance of traditional and modern techniques. Wines are aged on oak barrels, with the Martha’s Vineyard Cabernet often spending up to 20 months in French oak barrels, some new and some older.

Whites like the Chardonnay get gentle lees aging to add texture but stay fresh. The winery bottles in comparatively small batches to keep tight control over quality and consistency.​

3 Fun Facts
Heitz Cellar’s Martha’s Vineyard Cabernet was the very first vineyard-designated wine in Napa Valley, starting a trend that defines Napa’s identity today.

The estate once produced Grignolino, a little-known Italian red grape rarely grown in California, showing their willingness to experiment outside the usual Napa norm.

The towering eucalyptus trees on the edge of Martha’s Vineyard are famous and often cited as inspiring the wine’s signature minty, eucalyptus aroma—though the real source is believed to be the soil and clone combined.