Wine Labs · Market intelligence
Heitz Cellar Martha's Vineyard: History, Vineyard and Prices in 2026
Heitz Martha's Vineyard Cabernet: the vineyard, the people and the cellar work, plus live prices from 433 shops, 3,422 auction sales and 634 restaurants.
Martha's Vineyard is the flagship of Heitz Cellar in St. Helena. It is a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from a single vineyard in Oakville, and Heitz has made it since the 1966 vintage. The winery calls it the first wine in Napa Valley to carry a vineyard name on the label (Heitz Cellar vintages).
Below is what the winery and the wine press say about who makes it and where the fruit comes from, and what the wine sells for today in shops, at auction and on restaurant lists. The prices come from Wine Labs data collected on November 4, 2026.
Martha's Vineyard at a glance
| Producer | Heitz Cellar, St. Helena, Napa Valley |
| Owners | The Lawrence family, since April 2018 |
| First vintage | 1966 |
| Grapes | 100% Cabernet Sauvignon |
| Winery price | $350 for the 2021 |
| Typical shop price | $342 (median of 433 sellers) |
| Typical auction price | $275 a bottle, buyer's premium included (3,422 sales) |
Who makes Martha's Vineyard
Joe and Alice Heitz bought a small winery and vineyard in St. Helena in 1961 and started the Heitz label. In 1964 Joe Heitz bought the former Spring Valley Ranch at the end of Taplin Road (The Wine Independent). Joe Heitz died in December 2000 (Heitz Cellar vintages).
The family ran the winery until April 2018, when it passed to the Lawrence family (Heitz Cellar). The buyer was Gaylon Lawrence Jr., and the sale included more than 400 acres of vineyards. David Heitz, the winemaker, stepped aside at the sale (Wine Spectator). Carlton McCoy, a Master Sommelier, became CEO in December 2018 (The Wine Independent).
Brittany Sherwood has worked at Heitz since 2012 (The Wine Independent). The winery lists her as Director of Winemaking (Heitz Cellar people).
Where the fruit comes from
Heitz does not own Martha's Vineyard. It buys the fruit from the May family under an agreement that goes back to the mid-1960s, between Joe Heitz and Tom May (Heitz Cellar). At the 2018 sale, the new owners said they hoped to keep their grape contracts, Martha's Vineyard included (Wine Spectator). In 2024 The Wine Independent reported that the agreement with the May family remains (The Wine Independent).
Bernard Rhodes planted the first 12 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon there in 1959. Tom May bought the land from Bernard and Belle Rhodes and named the vineyard after his wife, Martha. The 1965 fruit went into the regular Heitz Cabernet; 1966 was the first separate bottling (The Wine Independent).
Today the winery describes a 34-acre parcel on the Oakville bench, on the western side of the valley against the Mayacamas Mountains, with afternoon shade. The vines carry a selection the winery calls the "Martha's Clone", with small berries and a minty aroma. The vineyard is certified organic by CCOF and certified Fish Friendly Farming (Heitz Cellar).
Vintages and cellar work
There are gaps in the run. The vines succumbed to phylloxera, and in 1993 Heitz began to replant on resistant rootstock. There was no Martha's Vineyard for 1993, 1994 or 1995. Heitz also did not bottle a 2011. Four vintages carry a special commemorative label: 1974, 1985, 1997 and 2007 (Heitz Cellar vintages).
The cellar work is slow. After fermentation the wine spends a year in neutral oak tanks. It then goes into new French Limousin oak barrels for three years, and gets another year in bottle before release (Heitz Cellar). The 2021 is 13.8% alcohol (2021 Martha's Vineyard).
Heitz does not publish tech sheets by vintage on its site, so we don't give a vintage table of cellar data here.
What Martha's Vineyard costs today
On November 4, 2026, 433 sellers had Martha's Vineyard on offer in a 750 ml bottle. Most are in the US (369 sellers), with nine each in Hong Kong and the UK and six in Singapore. Half of all offers sit between $285 and $479, and the median is $342. The winery sells the 2021 for $350 (2021 Martha's Vineyard).
Per 750 ml bottle, US dollars, November 2026.
| Channel | Price | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Auction | $275 | Median of 3,422 sales, buyer's premium included |
| Shops | $342 | Median of 433 sellers, all vintages |
| Winery, 2021 release | $350 | heitzcellar.com list price |
| Restaurants | $595 | Median of 634 wine lists |
These four prices don't measure the same thing. The winery price is for the current release. Shop prices mix many vintages, from recent ones to bottles from the 1960s. Auction prices are what one lot sold for, with the buyer's premium but before shipping, tax and storage. A restaurant price includes service.
Recent vintages sit close together. Shops ask a median of $280 for both the 2017 and the 2018, the two most widely stocked vintages. At auction the same two vintages sold for medians of $194 and $222. The gap grows with age: the 1974 has a shop median of $2,595 and an auction median of $1,596, and the 1969 is at $2,833 in shops and $1,028 at auction.
Medians per 750 ml. A selection of vintages with at least five shop sellers and five auction sales.
| Vintage | Shop median | Auction median |
|---|---|---|
| 1969 | $2,833 | $1,028 |
| 1970 | $1,693 | $717 |
| 1974 | $2,595 | $1,596 |
| 1985 | $662 | $385 |
| 1990 | $750 | $181 |
| 1997 | $459 | $250 |
| 2001 | $431 | $243 |
| 2007 | $479 | $239 |
| 2014 | $447 | $225 |
| 2016 | $315 | $226 |
| 2017 | $280 | $194 |
| 2018 | $280 | $222 |
| Vintage | Shop sellers | Shop median | Auction sales | Auction median |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | 5 | $2,833 | 82 | $1,028 |
| 1970 | 7 | $1,693 | 73 | $717 |
| 1974 | 19 | $2,595 | 432 | $1,596 |
| 1985 | 10 | $662 | 275 | $385 |
| 1990 | 14 | $750 | 63 | $181 |
| 1997 | 6 | $459 | 115 | $250 |
| 2001 | 10 | $431 | 66 | $243 |
| 2007 | 8 | $479 | 36 | $239 |
| 2010 | 11 | $287 | 30 | $212 |
| 2014 | 14 | $447 | 49 | $225 |
| 2015 | 19 | $300 | 41 | $199 |
| 2016 | 42 | $315 | 43 | $226 |
| 2017 | 91 | $280 | 41 | $194 |
| 2018 | 90 | $280 | 7 | $222 |
| 2019 | 56 | $293 | 2 | n/a |
This is a selection of vintages. We leave a cell empty when fewer than five sellers or five sales stand behind it.
Per-vintage shop figures leave out stores whose listings do not state a reliable vintage.
At auction
We have 3,422 Martha's Vineyard sales with a recorded price, at 35 auction houses, from January 2003 to November 2026. K&L Wines (1,126 lots), Acker Merrall Condit (460), Hart Davis Hart (332) and Spectrum Wine Auctions (312) account for most of them. Half of all sales fall between $192 and $544 a bottle.
The 1974 is the most traded vintage, with 432 sales. The 1966, the first Martha's Vineyard, has 29 sales with a median of $1,452, and the 1968 has 73 sales at a median of $1,318.
The median by year of sale rose from $201 in 2019 to $372 in 2021. It has stayed between $281 and $344 since 2022. These figures mix all vintages, so a year with more old bottles on sale will show a higher median. 2026 runs to November 3.
All vintages, per 750 ml, buyer's premium included. 2026 runs to November 3.
| Year | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | $222 | 140 sales |
| 2018 | $215 | 233 sales |
| 2019 | $201 | 258 sales |
| 2020 | $273 | 261 sales |
| 2021 | $372 | 232 sales |
| 2022 | $329 | 291 sales |
| 2023 | $344 | 218 sales |
| 2024 | $300 | 333 sales |
| 2025 | $281 | 473 sales |
| 2026 | $300 | 408 sales |
| Year of sale | Sales | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 140 | $222 |
| 2018 | 233 | $215 |
| 2019 | 258 | $201 |
| 2020 | 261 | $273 |
| 2021 | 232 | $372 |
| 2022 | 291 | $329 |
| 2023 | 218 | $344 |
| 2024 | 333 | $300 |
| 2025 | 473 | $281 |
| 2026 | 408 | $300 |
On restaurant lists
Martha's Vineyard is on 634 restaurant wine lists in our data, collected between January 2025 and November 2026. Nearly all of them are in the US. The median list price is $595 a bottle, and half the lists price it between $445 and $760.
Martha's Vineyard in the Heitz Cellar range
Heitz makes two other vineyard-designated Cabernets, Trailside in Rutherford and Linda Falls on Howell Mountain, plus Lot C-91 (Heitz Cellar). These are the wines with the most sellers in our data, all vintages together.
| Wine | Shop sellers | Shop median |
|---|---|---|
| Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley | 1,302 | $84 |
| Heitz Cellar Martha's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon | 433 | $342 |
| Heitz Cellar Lot C-91 | 288 | $104 |
| Heitz Cellar Trailside Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon | 284 | $173 |
| Heitz Cellar Quartz Creek Vineyard Chardonnay | 133 | $80 |
| Heitz Cellar Linda Falls Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon | 112 | $219 |
| Heitz Cellar Chardonnay, Napa Valley | 47 | $32 |
| Heitz Cellar Bella Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon | 28 | $317 |
Buying Martha's Vineyard
The winery sells the current release on its Martha's Vineyard page. Its Heitz Society has three tiers, each with two allocations a year of six, nine or twelve bottles, and gives members first access to new releases and library offers. Older vintages, back to the 1966, turn up often at auction.
See all Heitz Cellar wines on the Heitz Cellar producer page. See live Martha's Vineyard prices and auction history in Wine Labs market data.
Data methodology: Wine Labs data, November 4, 2026, for "Heitz Cellar Martha's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, USA". Shop prices are live 750 ml offers from online merchants and wine shops, one price per seller per vintage (the lowest), with each chain counted once, and with multi-bottle packs and the winery's own shop left out. Auction prices are sold lots with a recorded result, buyer's premium included, per 750 ml bottle, with mixed lots and flagged outliers left out. Restaurant prices are one bottle price per restaurant. All prices in US dollars. Vineyard and cellar details are from Heitz Cellar's own pages and the press reports linked above.