Last night I was very generously invited to a private event at Hal Howard’s beautiful Sammamish home to taste through the entire 2006 lineup of Realm wines. Juan Mercado was as always great to hang out with and talk shop.
2006 “The Tempest” Proprietary Red Wine – Napa Valley AVA. Blend of 68% Merlot, 16% Petit Verdot, 12% Cabernet Sauvignon and 4% Cabernet Franc. Definite Merlot dominated nose of raspberries and violets. Fine grained tannin on the palate and a smooth long finish. Already fairly well balanced and quite drinkable.
2006 Farella Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon – Napa Valley AVA. 100% Cabernet Sauvignon (clones 4 & 8). Fairly intense still showing a little less on the nose at this point but with good stuffing. This one is going to take some time to unwind but has tons of chocolate undertones with ripe fruit and a kiss of oak.
2006 “The Bard” Proprietary Red Wine – Napa Valley AVA. Blend of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Petit Verdot and 12% Merlot. A modern and super-ripe cabernet dominated wine that was really fun to taste. No doubt it’s Napa cabernet from the time you stick your nose in the glass.
2006 Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon – Oakville AVA. 100% Cabernet Sauvignon (Clone 4). Beautiful up-front and high toned fruits. Bright red color and a nose that just continues to pull you in for more. Very lush on the palate with fine tannins and a very long, lush finish. Terrific.
2006 Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon – St. Helena AVA. 100% Cabernet Sauvignon (clone 6). A wonderful and very complete package. Much darker and tightly wound at this point. The most complex of the bunch and a wine that will live for many, many years. I’d love to try this in 15 years.
Bonus wines:
2005 Farella. Incredible “old world” nose with tons of earthy dark fruits. A very complete package that is drinking very well already in its young life. You are very lucky if you own a few of these. I’d still hold for now but it won’t take long to come around.
2002 To Kalon. The oldest Realm that I’ve yet to try. Really it was just an older and more complete version of the 2006. The fruit and tannins have a bit more polish and the finish has begun to flesh out to make a very nice drinking wine.
1978 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Lot 2. Slightly warm when opened but had all the classic Stag’s Leap characteristics on the nose. Leather, morel mushrooms, crushed and polished blue river stones (no just kidding), and a terrific complex palate and finish. If you’ve got em’ drink em’. This one was not quite up to the bottle I had in November but it was a treat none the less. This was much better when it cooled off about 5 degrees.
Cheers,