Realm - Cabernet Sauvignon Houyi Vineyard 2021 (750ml)

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Producer	Realm
Country	USA
Region	California
Subregion	Napa Valley
Varietal	Bordeaux Blend
Vintage	2021
Sku	8036
Size	750ml

Realm's 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Houyi Vineyard is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. From a terrific vintage it offers up seductive notes of black cherries that hint at surmaturité plus hints of dark chocolate and coffee. Full-bodied and velvety on the palate with a long supple finish this is pretty lush sexy stuff. After numerous near misses my travel schedule and that of Realm Managing Partner Scott Becker finally aligned and I was able to visit with him on a Sunday morning which then stretched into early afternoon given the numerous wines to taste. Realm's history predates Becker's involvement extending back to the debut 2002 vintage when it was formed as a partnership between Juan Mercado and Wendell Laidley. Mike Hirby was the winemaker through 2010. Becker grew up in family of dairy farmers in Wisconsin attended the Air Force Academy and subsequently went to business school. He interned with Jack Cakebread worked at a Napa financial advisory firm then joined Bill Harlan at Promontory for a couple of years. After meeting Mercado and Laidley over lunch to pick their brains about starting his own winery he subsequently purchased Realm in July 2012 largely by assuming the debt the previous partners had amassed. "2012 was the first vintage of Realm 2.0" said Becker. Benoit Touquette was the winemaker and also a partner. From the beginning the project has made Cabernet Sauvignon from top sites in Napa?Realm has been purchasing To Kalon fruit since 2002?with the increasing expense and difficulty in sourcing grapes inevitably leading to vineyard purchases. "The focus over the years has been teasing out the differences and being able to articulate the differences of the various sites and how that changes and evolves over time" said Becker. In 2015 Realm purchased Hartwell in the Stags Leap District rechristening it Moonracer. Touquette had been making those wines so there was a familiarity with the site despite knowing the vineyard needed to be replanted. Prior to the acquisition the Realm wines had been made at Chateau Boswell but production was now moved into the new facility. Next up Realm took over farming the Farella property in Coombsville in 2018. "I had a connection with Frank Farella going back to my financial days" said Becker. Realm then purchased Nine Suns and the Houyi Vineyard on Pritchard Hill in 2022?they had previously been purchasing fruit from that site. "We've kept a connection to the original names in every case" said Becker. In 2024 Realm leased a property in Calistoga. Realm North as Becker calls it is a production and tasting facility dedicated to The Bard Realm's largest blended bottling. Touquette has recently transitioned into (just) ownership and consulting but Chris Cooney from Dana Estate has joined as head winemaker with Kelly Fields (ex-Phelps then Tench) as assistant. According to Becker the Realm winemaking philosophy has been to push phenolic ripeness in the vineyard aiming to produce wines that are big but light on their feet. "The wines we make today are still rich but we've been working on the freshness" he said. Fermentations are performed in stainless steel with temperatures in the mid-80 degrees Fahrenheit. "We aim for clean fast and inoculated" said Becker. Over time the team has gravitated toward slightly cooler temperatures and less extraction. Malolactic fermentation occurs in barrel. Oak averages 75% new with roughly 70% of the wood being from Taransaud. Some concrete eggs made an appearance in 2022. Merlot typically sees 14 months in oak while most of the reds get 18 months. The Bard is blended last so it sees up to 20 months in oak. It and The Tempest are also the only wines to be filtered. As for the top wine The Absurd Realm doesn't disclose vineyard sources or blend?it's strictly a barrel selection and blending exercise. "It's probably the more opulent and hedonistic of the wines we make because of what stands out" said Becker. "We have a debt of gratitude to Bob [Parker] because he took a chance on us" said Becker. "And we feel we have to live up to the expectations he created for us." Published: Jun 12 2025

The 2021 Houyi Vineyard 100% Cabernet Sauvignon is deep garnet-purple in color. It comes barreling out with powerful notes of blackcurrant jelly stewed plums and fruitcake followed by hints of charcoal wild sage mossy tree bark and black olives. The full-bodied palate delivers a rock-solid frame of firm grainy tannins and plenty of freshness to support the densely packed black fruits finishing long and earthy. Just under 1000 cases were made. Reviewed by: Lisa Perrotti-Brown Review date: 2024-02-01 Source: Realm?s 2021 Spring Releases

The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Houyi Vineyard is silky delicate and very pretty. In that sense it is a classic wine for this year. Crushed red berry fruit cedar mint tobacco and a kiss of French oak all grace this unusually supple racy Cabernet Sauvignon. Beautifully persistent the 2021 is all understatement and class. This is an especially mid-weight style for Pritchard Hill. Perhaps because of that the new oak is a touch prominent. The 2021 is a blend of five blocks off this site all Cabernet Sauvignon. I expect this wine will become more complex as Realm now has access to the entire property. - By Antonio Galloni on December 2023 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."

The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Houyi Vineyard comes from a great vineyard (which is now owned by Realm) on Pritchard Hill. Lots of gravelly earth and mineral as well as blue fruit chocolate leather and violet notes emerge on the nose and it's full-bodied on the palate with beautiful tannins and flawless balance. It's incredibly complex and brings plenty of mountain structure and concentration on the palate while holding onto a beautiful sense of finesse and elegance. It needs 4-5 years and will shine over the following two decades or more.