Realm Cellars
Epic Napa

Realm burst onto the Napa Valley Cabernet scene in the early 2000s and exploded by 2012 when Robert Parker awarded them their first 100 point wine. In the years that have followed we have seen Realm garner the praise of Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate over the years, racking up an impressive twenty-five wines with 98 to 100 point praise.

It is not just Mr. Parker who is a fan of Realm. Antonio Galloni has been citing the wines consistently as some of his favorites in Napa Valley. Due to the problematic 2020 vintage, Realm Cellars has not commercialized the vintage.So after a hiatus in the market we are finally able to offer the latest wines including the Hartwell XX and the Absurd just released 2021 vintage.

The range at Realm offers a study in the purity and blending of Cabernet Sauvignon. However, there has always been one wine at Realm that has just over-performed vintage after vintage. The Bard is the workhorse at Realm and consistently the most captivating wine to me.

The Bard is the quintessential expressions of Napa Valley. It is pure Napa Valley, expressing the Valley from North to South and East to West. It is a blend of vineyard sites that is Cabernet Sauvignon dominated, yet blended with Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Petite Sirah. Here the attention to detail driven by showcasing the bounty of Napa Valley in the vintage has provided a wine that is absolutely one of their finest to date.

"Realm is, without question, the most ambitious winery in Napa Valley today. Realizing the perils of depending solely on purchased fruit, principals Scott Becker and Benoit Touquette have put together an enviable collection of estate vineyards, starting with Hartwell in Stags Leap, then Farella in Coombsville and most recently Houyi, ensuring that Realm will always have a dependable supply of estate fruit. It’s a bold move that has been matched by very few other players in Napa Valley and only one on a large scale that I can think of. I tasted the 2021s at Houyi, a spectacular site on Pritchard Hill that also affords striking views of the area. The wines are seriously impressive and also show a gradual move towards a style that favors a bit more vibrancy than in the past. "It was a year with very small berries and high tannins," Touquette explained. "We had to be careful to not extract too much."" –Antonio Galloni

The work by Realm over the years with the insane investment within vineyards across the valley is what has resulted in The Bard becoming one of Napa Valley’s finest expressions.  A wine that consistently receives shockingly high praise for a workhorse wine of the range, out performing the uber-culty single vineyard wines that other publications consistently lavish with 100 point scores. Albeit, the same project and team, The Bard has always been a wine unto its own with more personality and uniqueness in contrast to the single varietal and single vineyard wines.

Realm Cellars is truly ascending into a realm of their own in Napa Valley. Proprietor Scott Becker and winemaker Benoit Touquette are an exceptional duo that are achieving the greatest of heights in Napa Valley with no end in sight. The 2021 vintage continues to garner massive press and from my personal tasting this past fall at one of the properties, this set of new wines is extremely impressive and inspiring. 

Cheers,
Jeremy