2018 Realm is coming (2/9/2021)

[Josh H]

Hi Scott, you mentioned that if you bought Kata you’ll be allocated Bourn. What if you purchased Ghost Dog but not Kata when you (Realm) had the October 2019 release, since that was a wine under the Kata umbrella? Does that result in an allocation of it?

Thanks!

[William Anzalone]

Has anyone rated the 2018 realm wines?

Wine Advocate for this release:
2018 Houyi 96+
2018 Farella Estate 97
2018 Beckstoffer Dr. Crane 100
2018 Beckstoffer To Kalon 98+
2018 Beckstoffer Bourn Vineyard 96

Jeb Dunnuck for this release:
2018 Houyi 96
2018 Farella Estate 97
2018 Beckstoffer Dr. Crane 98+
2018 Beckstoffer To Kalon 98+
2018 Beckstoffer Bourn Vineyard 97

[David Crow]

James Suckling posted a video of him doing a virtual tasting with Benoit and Scott. He doesn’t mention his scores but I found it interesting to get a behind the scenes look at how these critics taste with the winemaker right there and watching Benoit and Scott react.

James seemed to particularly like the Tempest and Moonracer but he seemed a little disappointed in the Dr Crane. It made me realize how doing these tastings virtually where wines are being shipped across the world and aren’t prepared / decanted according by the winemaking team could cause challenges. Benoit and Scott were urging him to give the Dr Crane some time but who knows if he did and if this could effect the score.

Here is the link to the video for anyone interested.

[scott.becker]

JF, timing of order and wish request are not factors in wish granting. When we moved to the guaranteed allocation for a window of two weeks, we wanted people to feel comfortable to place an order anytime during that window.

Josh, Ghost Dog is not a factor in Bourn allocations. Since this is the first time we've offered Bourn, we are allocating it very broadly.

[JohnP]

Scott, any chance you can share thoughts on the 20' Fidelio? Is it similar to 19? I'm a little gun-shy on 20' vintage, as I assume many others are too, maybe you could coach us through it? Any info would be helpful, thanks!

[Greg Smith]

Really cool watching the tasting with Suckling. Thanks for posting David. Interesting to see him knock the 2018 vintage relative to 2016. 2018 obviously still good but there are a lot of "vintages of the century". Want to be clear, not knocking Realm's 2018 but the vintage in general vs. 2016.

[scott.becker]

John, good question about 2020 and I think most consumers will feel the same way about the vintage. A topic for another time to discuss the nuances of smoke taint. It's been interesting to see different approaches taken by various producers. Generally speaking, white wines are far less susceptible to smoke taint than red wines. We've tasted and analyzed '20 Fidelio obsessively since harvest and I can confidently state the wine is every bit as vibrant and fresh as the 2019 vintage. There's no smoke taint problem with our white wine...I only wish I could say the same thing about the reds, and that's why we've made the decision not to bottle and release any reds. Volume of Fidelio is down slightly because we only used free-run juice out of an abundance of caution. Sometimes we will use a little bit of the first press fraction but not in 2020. The wine is showing typical citrus notes, hints of tropical fruit but still with racy acidity and a kiss of sweetness. I would say the 2019 and 2020 vintages are very similar for our white wine. Comparatively, the 2018 Fidelio was a little more closed on release...we blended a small amount of Semillon in that vintage and I think it changed the complexion of that wine immediately upon release. Today I think the 2018 is much more open but I wanted to give you that context.

[Josh H]

Thank you Scott for the reply, and thank you for taking the time to provide such thorough insight into so many different matters. One of many things that sets Realm apart.

[JohnP]

I second that, your explanations have been so helpful, thank you. I'm ready for Tues, let's go!

[HoosJustinG]

Really cool watching the tasting with Suckling. Thanks for posting David. Interesting to see him knock the 2018 vintage relative to 2016. 2018 obviously still good but there are a lot of "vintages of the century". Want to be clear, not knocking Realm's 2018 but the vintage in general vs. 2016.

I found it interesting too, but the way I read his comments - and have frankly heard from others as well - is that 16's power is unmatched by any other 10's vintage other than maybe 13 ... whereas 18 is more of a "boringly perfect" weather vintage where balance will shine through (and also purportedly excellent 19 is closer to 18 than 13 or 16). Reading between the lines, the way folks talk about 2018 and 2019 remind me of 2009/2010 (though perhaps flipped).

[Siggyb]

Just went in on the introductory offer:

2018 Tempest
2018 Bard
2017 Houyi

Hoping to get even just a small allocation this coming release!

that 2018 Bard is amazeballs, enjoy!

[Siggyb]

Curious for those that have watched the tasting any thoughts as to what you hope to get your hands on? Also, I don't think JS said anything about Beckstoffer Bourn previously Kata. I have purchased in the past and really enjoy it. Am curious to see if there is much of a difference with the lower percentage of petite sirah. Have to admit after watching this really want to open up some Realm. I am also wishing I had purchased my full allocation of Moonracer now! Guess I will have to wait until next fall!

[R. Frankel]

Scott, very much appreciate all this detail. I was a buyer first in 2015 and Realm is one of my last remaining regular Napa buys (age, evolving taste, budget: all the regular reasons). Realm scratches an itch for me that I find hard to get elsewhere. A visit to the winery a few years back was highly memorable so I’m really looking forward to the new digs. For anyone curious about Realm the new member intro pack is a great deal and window into the winery.

[Christine Courtney]

Chiming in as promised with part 3 – allocations. We are sending out the Save the Date email tomorrow announcing the spring release will be open starting at 10AM PST on February 9.

The ways in which wineries market and sell their wines are as diverse as the wines themselves. A common approach for small, DTC-focused wineries is the first-come, first-served model. From the producer’s perspective, it’s the easiest to manage. This was the Realm model up until 2016. We placed bottle limits on certain wines in an effort to spread the wines around to as many folks as possible. We started doing two releases per year in 2012 and the offering window for those wines would sometimes run several months or longer. Everything changed with our 2016 Spring Release.

Some of you were on the list back then and I’m grateful for your longstanding support. We knew there would be strong demand for the wines that release so we tried to be thoughtful about how we spread the wines around. But the response was overwhelming. The wines sold out in minutes, the website was overloaded with traffic and essentially crashed. From a customer service perspective, it was a nightmare. We had a lot of long-time members who were used to placing their order days or weeks after the release opened. I remember a call from a doctor that day who was in surgery when the release opened and was shocked to find out after he finished that the wines were all gone. I know we disappointed a lot of folks that day. We received some very negative feedback – some of it deserved, some of it not…but all of it was instructive for what came next. But we also received some heartfelt responses from people who were excited about the demand for the wines. We had several people call and tell us they were one of the lucky ones to get an order placed and they were willing to offer us back some of their purchased bottles if it would help meet the demand of others. There’s a sense of community that comes from appreciating wine and it was on display that day. We literally pulled out every single bottle from our inventory and cellar to fill as many orders as we could for long-time members. To this day, our inventory of the 2013 vintage at Realm is miniscule…for some wines it’s maybe 6 or 8 bottles left.

I share all of that as background so you understand why we moved to the system in place today. Our releases are open for about two weeks and the allocations are guaranteed, meaning those bottles are literally set aside for you. If a member hasn’t purchased in three years, their allocation is no longer guaranteed so we can free up those bottles for another member. It’s incredibly complex to try to predict behaviors – how many people will buy, how much of each wine will they buy. But that’s what we have to do to strike the balance between ensuring we live up to the promise that every allocation is guaranteed while at the same time ensuring we still sell the targeted amount of bottles in a fair manner. We use a wish function to create the balancing effect. Some people want more than their allocation, some people want less of their allocation. The wish request is how we spread the wines around once the release closes.

In the beginning, allocations were based simply on tenure and purchase history. How much wine have you bought in the past, how long have you been on the list…those two factors combined to create allocation tiers or bands. That was a good start but it wasn’t personal enough. We wanted every single member to have their own personal allocation that was tailored to them. To do that, we had to create a pretty complex algorithm first in excel and now in a custom software built on the salesforce platform. We start with past purchase history of a member, looking at how many bottles of a particular wine have been purchased in the last two or three releases. We look at what was allocated vs what was purchased. If we allocated Houyi to a member for two years and he or she never purchased it, we assume that member isn’t interested in that wine and subsequent allocations of that wine will decline. Wish requests are also a factor. If that same member passed on the Houyi allocation but purchased the full allocation of Farella and wished for more…in future releases we would try to allocate that member more Farella. Here we also have to introduce the variable of Mother Nature…to be able to increase allocations, we either need to have more volume from that vintage or remove that allocation from other members.

With me so far? Historical purchases by each label, wish requests, that’s simple enough. We also look at tenure. We genuinely want to support long-term members. If we only look at purchases, it’s easy to just allocate all the wine to the people who spend the most. But I’ve said this often to our team…we would much rather have a member who buys 3 bottles per year for four years than a member who buys 12 bottles in one year and never buys again. We of course appreciate every member and welcome every purchase. But we want to emphasize the relationship with a member that grows over time. From my perspective, longevity is important in fine wine – it’s as important with members as it is with vineyards. So we add a tenure factor that provides better access to wines over time, regardless of how significant the purchase history.

Recently, we’ve added referrals as a factor in allocations. If a member is sending us other members, that shows a level of engagement with us that we want to acknowledge. Now comes the fun part. We also add in factors for momentum (buying relative to the rest of the list), release participation (consistency from year to year), engagement through events, and a few others. All of these are secondary to the core factors of purchase history, wish requests and tenure but they can influence allocations. These other factors can also influence wish granting which doesn't always follow the same logic as allocations. For example, if we have one bottle of Dr. Crane left for wish granting, do we share that bottle with a member who already purchased some and wants more...or do we share it with someone who hasn't yet been able to buy a bottle of Dr. Crane? It's complicated.

Each release carries its own set of dynamics based on the volume and demand of the wines. For the upcoming spring release, we are adding the twist of a new wine – Beckstoffer Bourn – so we need to figure out how to allocate that wine without much of a precedent. We are starting with people who previously purchased Kata to ensure there is continuity. If you bought Kata, you will be allocated Beckstoffer Bourn. We will have a little more To Kalon to spread around this release. However, if you are new to the spring release, meaning this is your first one, don’t expect to be allocated a bottle of To Kalon or Dr. Crane. There’s just not enough of those wines to go around. Fidelio allocations will be a little tighter this year because we made less of that wine than in previous vintages.

In closing, it’s worth mentioning this is both an art and a science. And both continue to evolve at Realm. I’m grateful to have the analytical and data tools to incorporate all these factors mentioned above into personalizing allocations. But don’t think for one second that it means this is just a numbers game. Wine is personal…we take the relationships we cultivate with members personally. We try to make exceptions for special requests. On more than one occasion I’ve seen a Realm team member take a bottle from their own personal allocation (each team member at Realm receives two bottles of every wine we make) to offer it to a member with a special request. Now please don’t take advantage of me sharing this! But I want you to hear it from me so you better understand the ethos behind Realm and how we approach our members. We have a passionate team of people that are the driving force behind the release. We aren’t perfect and we sometimes make mistakes. Call us, email us, text us…and we will do whatever we can to make it right. We always welcome feedback as an opportunity to learn and evolve. If you have ideas on how we can improve allocations, DM me or email me anytime. I want to hear those ideas.

If you take nothing else away from my long-winded post, I hope it’s this. We try to be as thoughtful about the craft of how we share our wines with members as we are about the craft of growing and producing wine. If you look at your relationship with Realm through the course of many vintages, many releases…over time we hope to tailor your allocations and your journey in a way that’s meaningful and personal to you. Thanks for reading!

I was on the waitlist for a bit and now on my 3rd release purchase next week. Personally, I think you have top notch wine, winery team, customer service and overall wine buying experience. I am not always able to purchase the minute the release is open, so I really love being able to purchase anytime during those 2 weeks without worry and that there is a price break during that time! Also, I am just a nurse, so I am not always in a financial position to purchase the 3-bottle pack of the exact same wine, which is the Napa norm it seems (especially at $175-375 a pop for most high-end wines these days), so the ability to purchase just 1 bottle of any given wine is so appreciated!

I can really tell we are all valued as customers to you...longtime, brand-new, high volume and those of us that can just squeak in a few bottles. It is what makes you in my Top 5 wineries that I look forward to purchasing from every release. BTW, now that I know the bottles you allocate to me are held for me...I will only ever purchase 1 bottle max of each wine I am offered, even the Bard, Tempest, etc, so please feel free to adjust my allocation so others can have more, if there are any wines I am to be allocated more than one. I can always wishlist if something changes.

[Philip G]

You know what else I like about the Realm release? You don’t have to pay for the wine a year before you get it!

[chris.p]

Chiming in as promised with part 3 – allocations. We are sending out the Save the Date email tomorrow announcing the spring release will be open starting at 10AM PST on February 9.

The ways in which wineries market and sell their wines are as diverse as the wines themselves. A common approach for small, DTC-focused wineries is the first-come, first-served model. From the producer’s perspective, it’s the easiest to manage. This was the Realm model up until 2016. We placed bottle limits on certain wines in an effort to spread the wines around to as many folks as possible. We started doing two releases per year in 2012 and the offering window for those wines would sometimes run several months or longer. Everything changed with our 2016 Spring Release.

Some of you were on the list back then and I’m grateful for your longstanding support. We knew there would be strong demand for the wines that release so we tried to be thoughtful about how we spread the wines around. But the response was overwhelming. The wines sold out in minutes, the website was overloaded with traffic and essentially crashed. From a customer service perspective, it was a nightmare. We had a lot of long-time members who were used to placing their order days or weeks after the release opened. I remember a call from a doctor that day who was in surgery when the release opened and was shocked to find out after he finished that the wines were all gone. I know we disappointed a lot of folks that day. We received some very negative feedback – some of it deserved, some of it not…but all of it was instructive for what came next. But we also received some heartfelt responses from people who were excited about the demand for the wines. We had several people call and tell us they were one of the lucky ones to get an order placed and they were willing to offer us back some of their purchased bottles if it would help meet the demand of others. There’s a sense of community that comes from appreciating wine and it was on display that day. We literally pulled out every single bottle from our inventory and cellar to fill as many orders as we could for long-time members. To this day, our inventory of the 2013 vintage at Realm is miniscule…for some wines it’s maybe 6 or 8 bottles left.

I share all of that as background so you understand why we moved to the system in place today. Our releases are open for about two weeks and the allocations are guaranteed, meaning those bottles are literally set aside for you. If a member hasn’t purchased in three years, their allocation is no longer guaranteed so we can free up those bottles for another member. It’s incredibly complex to try to predict behaviors – how many people will buy, how much of each wine will they buy. But that’s what we have to do to strike the balance between ensuring we live up to the promise that every allocation is guaranteed while at the same time ensuring we still sell the targeted amount of bottles in a fair manner. We use a wish function to create the balancing effect. Some people want more than their allocation, some people want less of their allocation. The wish request is how we spread the wines around once the release closes.

In the beginning, allocations were based simply on tenure and purchase history. How much wine have you bought in the past, how long have you been on the list…those two factors combined to create allocation tiers or bands. That was a good start but it wasn’t personal enough. We wanted every single member to have their own personal allocation that was tailored to them. To do that, we had to create a pretty complex algorithm first in excel and now in a custom software built on the salesforce platform. We start with past purchase history of a member, looking at how many bottles of a particular wine have been purchased in the last two or three releases. We look at what was allocated vs what was purchased. If we allocated Houyi to a member for two years and he or she never purchased it, we assume that member isn’t interested in that wine and subsequent allocations of that wine will decline. Wish requests are also a factor. If that same member passed on the Houyi allocation but purchased the full allocation of Farella and wished for more…in future releases we would try to allocate that member more Farella. Here we also have to introduce the variable of Mother Nature…to be able to increase allocations, we either need to have more volume from that vintage or remove that allocation from other members.

With me so far? Historical purchases by each label, wish requests, that’s simple enough. We also look at tenure. We genuinely want to support long-term members. If we only look at purchases, it’s easy to just allocate all the wine to the people who spend the most. But I’ve said this often to our team…we would much rather have a member who buys 3 bottles per year for four years than a member who buys 12 bottles in one year and never buys again. We of course appreciate every member and welcome every purchase. But we want to emphasize the relationship with a member that grows over time. From my perspective, longevity is important in fine wine – it’s as important with members as it is with vineyards. So we add a tenure factor that provides better access to wines over time, regardless of how significant the purchase history.

Recently, we’ve added referrals as a factor in allocations. If a member is sending us other members, that shows a level of engagement with us that we want to acknowledge. Now comes the fun part. We also add in factors for momentum (buying relative to the rest of the list), release participation (consistency from year to year), engagement through events, and a few others. All of these are secondary to the core factors of purchase history, wish requests and tenure but they can influence allocations. These other factors can also influence wish granting which doesn't always follow the same logic as allocations. For example, if we have one bottle of Dr. Crane left for wish granting, do we share that bottle with a member who already purchased some and wants more...or do we share it with someone who hasn't yet been able to buy a bottle of Dr. Crane? It's complicated.

Each release carries its own set of dynamics based on the volume and demand of the wines. For the upcoming spring release, we are adding the twist of a new wine – Beckstoffer Bourn – so we need to figure out how to allocate that wine without much of a precedent. We are starting with people who previously purchased Kata to ensure there is continuity. If you bought Kata, you will be allocated Beckstoffer Bourn. We will have a little more To Kalon to spread around this release. However, if you are new to the spring release, meaning this is your first one, don’t expect to be allocated a bottle of To Kalon or Dr. Crane. There’s just not enough of those wines to go around. Fidelio allocations will be a little tighter this year because we made less of that wine than in previous vintages.

In closing, it’s worth mentioning this is both an art and a science. And both continue to evolve at Realm. I’m grateful to have the analytical and data tools to incorporate all these factors mentioned above into personalizing allocations. But don’t think for one second that it means this is just a numbers game. Wine is personal…we take the relationships we cultivate with members personally. We try to make exceptions for special requests. On more than one occasion I’ve seen a Realm team member take a bottle from their own personal allocation (each team member at Realm receives two bottles of every wine we make) to offer it to a member with a special request. Now please don’t take advantage of me sharing this! But I want you to hear it from me so you better understand the ethos behind Realm and how we approach our members. We have a passionate team of people that are the driving force behind the release. We aren’t perfect and we sometimes make mistakes. Call us, email us, text us…and we will do whatever we can to make it right. We always welcome feedback as an opportunity to learn and evolve. If you have ideas on how we can improve allocations, DM me or email me anytime. I want to hear those ideas.

If you take nothing else away from my long-winded post, I hope it’s this. We try to be as thoughtful about the craft of how we share our wines with members as we are about the craft of growing and producing wine. If you look at your relationship with Realm through the course of many vintages, many releases…over time we hope to tailor your allocations and your journey in a way that’s meaningful and personal to you. Thanks for reading!

Thanks for sharing here, that's just so transparency to me, Cheers!

[DavidC.]

You guys beat me to the punch! Was thinking I would post some thoughts on the upcoming release in the next week or so. Let me pull those thoughts together and incorporate the questions that have popped up here into my comments. I will also dig out my hard hat and body armor before talking about pricing!

A few quick comments to share immediately. We are thrilled to have Farella back in the lineup. 2018 marks a very important year for us in that vineyard and I'll expand on this in my next post. 2018 also marks the inaugural release of Beckstoffer Bourn which is formerly known as Kata. I'll address the material change question in detail but the short answer is no. Good news is that To Kalon quantity is slightly higher in this vintage - partly yield and partly from new rows. Dr. Crane is flat.

Appreciate the Santa Claus reference! And I have the same problem with my own buying, or rather...gift-giving to myself?!?

Hi Scott. I received the email and said I am offered allocation for Fall but not this time. Is there any way you could expedite this? Love to try some of the current releaes

[mmoyer]

Maybe Scott can comment. Was driving by Beckstoffers' Orchard Vineyard this weekend and noticed it has been ripped out. Thought this was the source for Tempest. Is Tempest still going to be produced? What vineyard? Thanks in advance.

[scott.becker]

Hi David, new members start their Realm journey with the fall release. Once you're into the fall release (purchase or not), you will automatically be included in the subsequent spring release. The exception to this is new members who participate in the Introductory Offering (which is offered immediately upon signup). Participating in the intro offering provides enhanced access into the next offering (spring or fall). That written, can you send me an email (sbecker@realmcellars.com) with the email address you are using for your Realm account? I will double check the history to make sure we got it right. The only reason we don't include new members in the spring is because we aren't able yet to guarantee an allocation for them...obviously we want to get you into the releases as soon as possible!

Mark, yes the Beckstoffer team is working on a staged replant of sections of the Orchard Vineyard. There are a few blocks ripped out but several others that are still in production. That means some movement for the wineries in the vineyard but shouldn't require any drastic changes. We are working with the Beckstoffer team on a longer-term Merlot sourcing strategy. The Tempest is still being produced for now but we are actively debating the long-term potential and future of Merlot in Napa Valley. A good discussion thread for a future date.

[KyleC]

but we are actively debating the long-term potential and future of Merlot in Napa Valley. A good discussion thread for a future date.

[Phil M]

Order in! Purchased everything except the Cab Franc, and made several wish list requests.

[HoosJustinG]

Order in for 3 x Houyi, 2 x Farella (+1 w/l), 3 x Fidelio ... waitlisted Crane and BTK + mags.

[noah y]

That Bourn bottle is gorgeous, as is the Crane bottle. Realm continues to be one of my favorite producers. Very excited for these wines!

[Greg Smith]

I'm torn here. The Farella is the same price as Myriad Elysian and MacDonald. Obviously Houyi etc... are more. How would someone compare the Realm's to Myriad/MacDonald? And I am a big fan of The Bard/Tempest.

[Mike Van1]

Order in for 1x Houyi, Farella, Bourn, Crane, and To Kalon. Wished for 1x Bourn, Crane, and 2x To Kalon.

Excited to be offered Dr Crane and To Kalon this year.

[markjchambers]

I guess I’m far down the list. 6 bottles and half are SB. No option to even wish many. This seems much tighter than the fall release.

[Dennis_L]

Took my full allocation and wishlisted several as well. Sad couldn't even wishlist Dr. Crane though.

[Tom Chen]

Order in.

Keeping the Dr. Crane vertical intact.

Excited to try the Bourn.

[Jeff L]

I guess I’m far down the list. 6 bottles and half are SB. No option to even wish many. This seems much tighter than the fall release.

I feel the same way. I suppose it's refreshing that a system is in place so maybe next year I'll get more but I def. had higher expectations after my Fall purchases.

[scott.becker]

Mark, allocations in the spring release are always tighter than fall. Production volumes here are a few hundred cases whereas volume of Tempest and Bard (even Moonracer to some extent) is much higher. Allocations across the board for Bourn were one bottle unless the member had a previous history with that wine/Kata. Your allocations will naturally grow with time and purchase history!

Dennis, hang in there! We pulled back on ability to allow wish requests for situations where we knew for certain we couldn't grant it. No sense in giving you hope of getting a bottle of Dr. Crane if there's no way we would be able to fulfill it.

ALL - thanks for your support! We never take it for granted. The team (on both sides of the ball - winegrowing and sales) works their tails off so that we can share the wines as fairly and broadly as possible. We don't always get it right and we always want to hear the feedback. Hearing from a lot of folks disappointed about not getting Dr. Crane, which is understandable. My recommendation is you call Andy Beckstoffer's office and suggest he sell us more fruit from that vineyard. (I'm half kidding!)

[ykwon]

Finally get to wish list crane and to kalon. Will probably do a little of everything!

[JohnP]

Order in! Dr C and Fidelio.
No mags of Fidelio offered this year, at least not to me.
AG's reviews just posted - Dr. C - 98pts. No 20' Fidelio review.

[Jon H]

Order in!

@Scott - I presume Moonracer is a Fall release? I didn't see it listed.

[Philip G]

Very excited to get allocations for all except the Cab Franc, which is waaaay out of my price range anyway Will take my full allocation of T-K and Dr-C and will have to see what I can afford as far as numbers on the others.

Boy that Bourn is a beautiful bottle! I was able to purchase '16 Kata in the past, which I haven't tried yet, passed on '17 which is why I'm guessing I only got offered one Bourn this time. Might put in an unofficial wish for more of that to at least let them know I'd like the opportunity for more in the future.

With several other big ticket items hitting this week it's nice to be able to wait a couple of days to put the order in so my CC can roll over and cool off

[Robert G.]

2x Houyi (wished for 3 more)
1x Farella (wished for 3 more)
Wished for 1x Beckstoffer to Kalon

[FMansfield]

I had to wish for Bourn x2 and To Kalon. Couldn’t even wish for Dr Crane. Maybe Scott will see this and have some sympathy.

[Siggyb]

Very excited to get allocations for all except the Cab Franc, which is waaaay out of my price range anyway Will take my full allocation of T-K and Dr-C and will have to see what I can afford as far as numbers on the others.

Boy that Bourn is a beautiful bottle! I was able to purchase '16 Kata in the past, which I haven't tried yet, passed on '17 which is why I'm guessing I only got offered one Bourn this time. Might put in an unofficial wish for more of that to at least let them know I'd like the opportunity for more in the future.

With several other big ticket items hitting this week it's nice to be able to wait a couple of days to put the order in so my CC can roll over and cool off

I was only allocated 1 Beckstoffer Bourn as well and was bummed out. I have the 15 and 16 The 15 is beautiful. Haven't opened the 16 yet. I forgot to order the 17 so maybe that is why I was only offered 1 as well. Totally forgot about that. Darn. I like your idea about the unofficial WL.

[CraigT]

What do people think of the price increase's? I was a little surprised by the $50 increase on the crane.

[Tom Chen]

What do people think of the price increase's? I was a little surprised by the $50 increase on the crane.

It's all relative and clearly no one likes price increases other than the winery, but if the mailing list prices are still lower than retail, I am fine with it.

That said, at some point, even if you are getting a great "deal" buying through the winery, there is definitely a price point where I will no longer buy.

I have dropped a number of lists in this range (and higher), but still think Realm is a good "value."

Scott had a nice explanation of the Dr. Crane price increase (as well as other info about Realm pricing) in an earlier post in this thread.

[blarmston]

Was only offered a bottle each of Bourn and Farella, and scooped them up quickly. Wish listed the max for the rest.

Now, if only there was a winery owner who posted on this thread and who could put in a good word for that wish list grant for me?...

[scott.becker]

I really appreciate all the support and enthusiasm for the wines! The unofficial wait list idea is a new one...destined to get me in trouble with every single person on the list!

Jon, Moonracer is now part of the fall release. So the 2018 Moonracer was released last September. We will include the 2019 Moonracer in the fall release later this year.

A comment on the wish request feature. Please only use that for wines you actually want regardless of what happens with the rest of your wish requests. Don't wish for more than you want or add one wine just to give you a better chance at another wine. If we have the wine at the end of the release, we will certainly grant the request...that could mean none, some or all of a member's wish requests. In the past, we've had a few members who call to cancel their entire wish request order (which is charged automatically post-release) once they realize they don't get all of their wishes. That creates extra work and headache and generally leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth, so we want to avoid that!

Craig, fair point on the Dr. Crane price increase and thanks for sharing your thought. We deliberated long and hard about that one before we did it. I know it's a significant jump and we try to avoid those kinds of big moves (the only exception being The Absurd). Ultimately, we have a lot of conviction about THIS wine...from THIS vineyard...being one of the most special in all of Napa Valley. I envision a tasting years in the future with a vertical of Realm Beckstoffer Dr. Crane next to a vertical of Chateau Haut-Brion. Two fantastic sites with surprising similarities. I guess what I'm trying to say is there is a particularity, a singularity to that wine...that's what we are signaling. We aspire to make sure this wine (and all others) still over-delivers for the price...and I fully recognize that gets harder to do as the price goes up. That written, I can tell you the biggest issue we've heard today is from (dozens of) people who weren't allocated a bottle of Dr. Crane. Sometimes it feels like the proverbial "damned if you do and damned if you don't."

It's a privilege for us to share these wines with so many of you...everyone at Realm feels that way. I heard from one member today who recalled buying the wines "back in the day" when prices were much lower and said we were getting too expensive. I can empathize with that view. A lot has changed at Realm over the years. If you look at Napa Valley in the last decade, I think the Realm journey stands out as one of the most remarkable entrepreneurial stories of that era. That wouldn't be possible without the support of so many members who believe in the vision and love the wines...and we will never lose sight of that. We work obsessively on quality at the highest level - it's one thing to say that, it's another to back it up year after year. Across the board, our 2018's are better than our 2012's. And they should be, given the investments and effort we've made and the prices we now charge. I still believe The Bard represents extraordinary value and you have my pledge to preserve that in future years. Thank you to each of you - whether you buy one bottle or a dozen, whether you buy for one release or twenty...

[scott.becker]

Was only offered a bottle each of Bourn and Farella, and scooped them up quickly. Wish listed the max for the rest.

Now, if only there was a winery owner who posted on this thread and who could put in a good word for that wish list grant for me?...

Brian, I was thinking to deliver a pallet of each down to San Diego and let you take care of wish granting for the rest of the state!?!?

[Frank Z]

In for Fidelio, Dr. Crane, and To Kalon. Debating if I should have grabbed the Bourn as well. A huge thanks to Scott for providing so much insight over the past weeks!

[blarmston]

Was only offered a bottle each of Bourn and Farella, and scooped them up quickly. Wish listed the max for the rest.

Now, if only there was a winery owner who posted on this thread and who could put in a good word for that wish list grant for me?...

Brian, I was thinking to deliver a pallet of each down to San Diego and let you take care of wish granting for the rest of the state!?!?

Scott- that is a fine idea, and we should make that happen. And then we shall have a Celebration to End All Celebrations, full of Cabernet as far as the eye can see. I already told Kemba and she was pleased at the thought, and then she went back to her fourth nap of the day...

[MICHAEL C R O M W E L L]

BTK and Dr. C for me! Cutting back on buying is for quitters.

[Jmigliano]

Was only offered a bottle each of Bourn and Farella, and scooped them up quickly. Wish listed the max for the rest.

Now, if only there was a winery owner who posted on this thread and who could put in a good word for that wish list grant for me?...

Brian, I was thinking to deliver a pallet of each down to San Diego and let you take care of wish granting for the rest of the state!?!?

Thanks for all the info Scott. Took my 2 Houyi, 1 farella that was offered and wished for a farella and To Kalon.

[AnthonyDThompson]

I'm in San Diego, I would be happy to assist. Need to earn my stripes. My ne Farella and wished To Kalon is not going to cut it.

[SeanHarding]

Cellartracker has "2018 Realm Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Houyi Vineyard" and "2018 Realm Cellars Houyi Vineyard."

Are these the same, or are there two wines from Houyi?

[Jen M a s o n]

2 x Houyi
2x Farella
Wishlisted Bourn, Dr C and TK. Keeping my fingers crossed!!

[OwenB]

Cellartracker has "2018 Realm Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Houyi Vineyard" and "2018 Realm Cellars Houyi Vineyard."

Are these the same, or are there two wines from Houyi?

Same