Anyone with any opinions or tastings (Scott?). I’m in, just debating full allocation or not with a rougher vintage, and the fact that I’m drinking less and my wife quit drinking 100% a year ago, Definitely will be all in on 2023 full allocation but with me limiting my purchases Realms portfolio stays on the board for me with a few others.
I’m also really curious how ‘drinkable’ this is as a young wine . . .
I had an 18 in 23 (2 years after release). It was decanted for about an hour. A tremendous bottle that drank very well that night. Sorry no formal note. I have some other bottles including a 12 that probably need to be consumed.
Hi Bill, nice to connect with you again! Happy 4th of July to everyone here and I’m grateful for the continued interest and support.
In preparation for this release, we published some tasting notes on a vertical of The Absurd: Realm Cellars: A Decade of The Absurd. The tasting was a good occasion for Benoit, Chris, Kelly and I to dig into the “Platonic ideal” of this wine, and how it’s evolved from one vintage to the next. There was a lot of healthy debate about the role and importance (or not) of terroir in this wine, how much we need to stick to a stylistic vision vs allowing the nuance of Nature and each vintage to guide us, etc. I’ll spare you all the back and forth…but I still love the freedom of thought, pursuit, craft, experiment…that The Absurd represents.
A few thoughts in response to your question. (I say this every time but it’s worth repeating myself. Of course I’m biased and this is just my palate.) I find 2022 very interesting right now because it’s so open and expressive. I don’t think this is limited to just The Absurd or just Realm, I’ve heard from other winemakers who feel the same way about their wines - 22’s are very generous right now. I would drink 2022 before I drink 21’s and frankly 18’s and 19’s need some air to really shine as well. Does that mean 2022 won’t age as long as the 18’s, 19’s, or 21’s? I suppose that’s the conventional thought but I learned awhile ago that wine always has a way of humbling us and defying expectations.
While 2022 was a more challenging/technical vintage, the irony for me is that I believe we made better wines in 2022 than we did in so-called good or great vintages like 2012 or 2013. That came through to my palate when we tasted the vertical of The Absurd. For my palate, I would probably be drinking up our 2012’s and 2013’s. They’ve aged well but I’m not convinced they have the stuffing to continue aging for another decade as gracefully. In contrast, I think our 2022’s (and all the other recent vintages) will easily age for two decades or more. Obviously a lot changed at Realm in those intervening years to make that possible.
One other perspective on The Absurd. I think the difference between this wine and the rest of our portfolio is not as great when the wines are young. I routinely hear from people who say they prefer The Bard or one of the estate wines over The Absurd…I love that! Heck, even the critics seem to indicate that with their scores from time to time. But I think it’s only with age that you start to see the gap widen between The Absurd and the rest of the portfolio. The various lots or components that end up in The Absurd…they tend to be the ones showing the greatest density, mouthfeel in the barrel…and I think that translates into a wine that only reveals its true character in time.
Is any of this helpful, Bill? As a collector, I too will probably load up on full allocations of the 2023 vintage for the wines I enjoy because I think it’s a very unique vintage. But my expectation is that 2023’s will be very different - more classical, less extroverted, very specific tannin structure, and I am guessing that 2023’s will not be as exciting young. It’s a vintage built for long-term. Whereas I find a lot of pleasure in the 2022’s (other Napa producers too, not just Realm) now and I’m guessing for the next decade these wines will be more forward and approachable.
If anyone opens a bottle of The Absurd over this holiday weekend, shoot me a note and let me know your thoughts! @JBierly I would probably drink that 2012 soon but that’s just my palate. That wine sits right at the edge of ripeness for me - not overripe, but a little closer to the edge than we would like to be today. When you pull the cork, shoot me a note and let me know your thoughts. And don’t hold back - your candid feedback makes us better at what we do!
Thanks for being a part of this lifelong journey with us! 2022 The Absurd represents our tenth vintage and it shows how far we’ve come. 2022 is orders of magnitude above 2012 in my opinion, and I hope I’m saying the same thing about the 2032 vintage compared to 2022 in another decade. 
4 Likes