Realm went live today with their 2024 estate wines plus the Tempest (which in ‘24 was predominantly cab France for the first time). I haven’t seen any chatter on this one yet. Any feedback from those that have tasted these? Maybe @scott.becker can weigh in with his thoughts.
Wallet is taking a clobbering this month but I will go for a few of the Tempest considering I already have Bard in the cellar.
Tempted by the other wines but decided more Tempest makes more sense at $125.
Doubled down on the size of my Tempest order when I saw the CF percentage, but passed on the others
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Trying to decide what to grab as well so appreciate the discussion. I am thinking at least 1-2 Tempest (curious about the CF dominant blend this year), another Bard, and a Houyi. Maybe a Moonracer as well. Curious what you all think are going to show best from this vintage.
Hi everyone, thank you for letting me share a few thoughts on our fall release. We will be pouring the fall release wines for guests who are visiting either Moonracer or Houyi over the next month, so maybe some of you will have a chance to taste and share your perspective.
William Kelley wrote an essay in early 2025 on the difference between “the best and the rest.” I’m linking the essay here because I think it’s free (not behind a paywall). Maybe some of you will read it and think, “duh, of course that makes sense.” Or maybe some of you will disagree entirely with his premise. Perhaps it was the timing, but William’s essay had a profound impact on me. Not that there was some grand insight or secret shared, but William managed to articulate something concretely that might be easily overlooked in today’s fast-paced, over-stimulated world. Given the nature of winegrowing, it’s often the small, consistent steps that accumulate over time to create real distinction or character. This was something we had been working toward at Realm for several years, but it’s easier said than done. From custom crush to one winemaking facility, then two. From purchasing grapes to managing our own estates. It’s easy to gloss over it, but those are massive changes. Realm was in a state of constant motion for many years that made it hard to zero in on those small, incremental gains. At the time William published his essay, we were also navigating a winemaking transition…so reading his thoughts gave me some conviction about the direction we were headed in, and what it would take to continue elevating our wines. It’s less about improving quality, per se, and more about focusing on the distinct character for each wine. I think you can really see/taste that distinction in these fall release wines.
2024 was a warm growing season but the heat spikes in July and October affected the fruit very differently compared to the 2022 heat dome in early September. Overall I find the wines to show more extroverted fruit and intensity compared to 2023’s. The tannins are more pronounced at this young stage. Whereas the 2022’s were/are forward, more ready to drink…I think the 2024’s need some time and air to open up. I think it’s another strong vintage for Napa Valley. Very different than 2022 or 2023 or 2025, so it will be fun to compare and contrast these wines in the years to come.
I think our 2024 wines reflect some of those incremental, aggregated gains. 2024 The Tempest has a higher concentration of Cabernet Franc. It was a fantastic year for CF. This Tempest seems more zippy and vibrant, more high toned…maybe due to more CF. Will this be the new guideline for The Tempest going forward? Hard to say yet, but I’m certain Cabernet Franc will continue to feature prominently within our portfolio. 2024 Farella ended up with a slightly larger % of Merlot from the site, as the Merlot helped to round and soften the Cabernet tannins. I think Farella is really coming into its own as we get more comfortable with the character of that site. 2024 Moonracer has more/better midpalate texture than 2021-23. Part of that is the younger blocks making it into the final blend, there’s 5% Cab Franc in that wine that goes a long way. 2024 Houyi has broad shoulders, great fruit and aromatics. It comes across as the warmest site and densest wine of our three estates, and that’s true to place. We bottled a little more Heavenly Questions this year, we have 3 blocks of Cab Franc now at Houyi, and there’s something special about CF grown in volcanic rock.
If I had to choose one wine from this release, it’s probably Houyi. I know, I know…take my comments with a grain of salt! It’s not the largest volume (that’s obviously Bard) so that’s not why I’m choosing it. It’s because that wine really captures the “big yet light on its feet” mantra of Realm. A dense wine that still has aromatic lift. If I had to choose two bottles, I would add Farella. Our warmest site and our coolest. The two wines couldn’t be more different, and that’s the point. Once upon a time, Realm was defined by Beckstoffer fruit…and don’t get me wrong, those are still great sites and those wines are important. But our future is increasingly defined by our three estates. And that’s why William Kelly’s essay hit me at the right moment. I’m energized by the challenge to tease out, over time, the full potential of these three estates. Along the way, the wines should get more specific, more distinct. Of course I leave it to you to decide what you like or what you prefer…but at least you can understand (even if you disagree with) the intent behind where we are trying to go.
Thanks again for letting me be a part of this community. If you have any questions or comments, don’t hesitate to fire away. I sometimes worry my presence here inadvertently discourages others to comment. I’m no expert, if such a thing exists in this business…and when it comes to your palate or your impression of our wines…well then, it’s more important that I hear from you rather than you hear from me!
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Thanks Scott! I appreciate your thoughts here as always, especially on the differences you see across the portfolio. I always struggle with whether to go more broad and pick up a variety of different wines or try to go deeper and concentrate on multiple bottles of a few to see the evolution over time. Your comments help with that.
On The Tempest I’m intrigued by the cab franc focus. Would you say this Tempest is closer to the old Falstaff wines or closer to the prior Tempests in profile (or is it really something entirely different from either)?
Hi David. Really appreciate your comment about the debate of going more broad vs deeper. I think we need to do a better job with education and exposure to the portfolio. Over time, my hope would be consumers figure out which wines or sites they gravitate toward, and they focus on those. But I realize that requires time and investment to get there. In the spirit of sharing more context on the three estates, here’s how I would describe them in 2024. Farella shows its cooler climate - more savory, forest floor notes. Houyi comes across as the broadest on the palate, more richness, black cherry and lavender notes. Moonracer is more like raspberry mixed with some earthy notes, the wine is more linear on the palate, long finish.
We were planning to hold back the half bottles of our 2024 estate wines for a future release. But your comment makes me think we should probably include them now. This might be the best and most immediate thing we can do to give folks the opportunity to explore the differences between the three sites. And maybe we even create a 3-pack of 375mL’s that is one each of Farella, Houyi, Moonracer. The team is working right now to see if we can pull this off for this release. They are probably going to kill me for even mentioning it here. It’s my fault for not thinking of this sooner. But I can see more clearly now that we need to do more on drawing comparisons and contrasts between the three estates. We’ve worked hard at this on the winegrowing side, and now we need to do the same on the market-facing side.
Regarding The Tempest, I think 2024 is something distinct altogether. The old Falstaff and Tempest wines (pre-2020) were generally denser and rounder wines on the palate. Starting in 2021, the Merlot sourcing for Tempest moved to the southern part of the valley and we bottled that wine on the earlier side. We were aiming to capture more freshness in Tempest. We wanted it to be more distinct from Bard. With 2024, I think we keep the freshness and vibrancy that Tempest has had since 2021…and we introduce a bit more structure and firmness from the Cab Franc. You can definitely smell and taste the Franc-iness in this Tempest (think tea leaves) but I don’t think it’s quite comparable to the roundness that Falstaff had from 2012 to 2019. Does this make any sense to you? It’s also hard to compare because the fruit sourcing evolved so much over the years. 2024 The Tempest, for example, is blended with fruit from Farella, Houyi and Upper Range. Great question that you asked! Hope my answer gives some context at least.
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I love the idea of the three site 375ml bottle pack!
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I haven’t tasted any yet but I picked up 3 of everything (except the Tempest). Sounds like I’ll have to add some Tempest as well now 
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As a relatively new Realm member a sampler three pack of single vineyards would be an incredible way to hone our preferences and guaranteed buy for me!
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@scott.becker for sure that 3 pack of 375’s is the right thing to do!
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I’ll be in for a 3 pack of the Tempest - really intrigued by the blend % there.
Apologies if I missed this, but is Hartwell XX now being released in Spring 2027?
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Very cool idea.
Scott, I read that essay you mentioned by @William_Kelley about what the best producers do differently that make them the best. That was a fascinating read, and it addresses a question I’ve often wondered about. And I don’t think the points he makes are obvious (at least not to me).
It would be obvious to think that the best producers simply have access to the best vineyards or the best winemaker. But there are lots of amazing vineyards, and lots of great winemakers. Certainly those seem like necessary components, but his point that you need the vision, consistency, and attention to hundreds of individual details to elevate from very good to truly great I don’t think is something most people realize or think about.
It’s also probably something that’s difficult to articulate from a marketing angle. If someone asked you what makes Realm a great producer and what distinguishes Realm from your peers, you could talk about the move to an estate model and the control that provides, or you could talk about your great team and their experience, etc. But within those broad points I imagine it’s difficult to articulate the hundreds of individual things that you see every day that collectively make the end product that 1-2% better that differentiates the truly great from the merely very good.
You know you’ve built a good team when they immediately jump in and start problem solving to make things happen. It might be me posting here on WB but Realm is about so much more than any one person. Working on the 3-pack of Estates 375mL to go live next week. Let’s see if we can pull this off. Appreciate all the feedback and enthusiasm!
@seanmcg 2024 Hartwell XX is being released next spring. The reason is we felt this wine (and The Absurd) needed more time in barrel so it’s not getting bottled until January. Consider this one of those small details that we hope adds up over time to create more distinct wines. We are trying to do what we think is right for each wine rather than treat them all the same.
@David_Crow spot on! William said it so much better than I could. There are literally hundreds, maybe thousands, of little decisions that contribute or influence the final result. Most of those don’t translate into simple talking points. And then you need the discipline and endurance to move thoughtfully in the same direction. Changes are necessary but they need to be measured, or you risk not understanding the cumulative impact of one change in the first place. William’s examples are great. I’ll give you one from Realm. We are going through barrel trials to identify which cooper, which size, which stave thickness, which toast level, which seasoning (all of these are variables)…fits best with which specific lots from which vineyard. But what works in a warm vintage like 2024 may not work in a cool vintage like 2025. How do we know which variable is driving the positive or negative impression we have of the wine? This a years-long process. We’ve also seen some barrels show poorly at the beginning of elevage, only to see/taste the improvements as the months go by. Farella is not like Moonracer, and neither is like Houyi. And then you can narrow into individual blocks, individual picks/lots.
We need to have a strong sense of direction at 30,000 feet and we need to be able to zoom into the 3-inch level, and then make sure all the dots are connected in between at 3 ft, 30 ft, 300 ft, and 3,000 ft. Hope the analogy makes sense.
I’ve increasingly come to see this as a focus on craft and culture. Craft is what William describes in his essay, and what I’m referencing above with the barrel trials. Culture is even harder to get right yet it’s absolutely as important. Somewhere on this journey, I realized my job wasn’t just to make and sell wines. It was to build a team and a culture that would embrace our vision, our values, our ways of working. This is also a years-long process. I’ve already written too much so I won’t bother going into detail on culture for now. But I will close with this. If Realm ever comes close to achieving what William describes in his essay, it will be because of a shared focus on craft and culture. We have a long way to go, and I’m more energized than ever by the climb ahead.
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I have to say, I’m impressed with this kind of response. I’m on the list…and I’ve looked. I’ve had Bard before, but was curious about the others. I was going to pass on this offering and perhaps arrange a visit to grab a taste of the others at some point.
@scott.becker: If you pull off the 375mLs, chalk up another guarantee. Appreciate you listening and pivoting with your team.
Thanks for all the discussion and info @scott.becker, really great to see the outreach from Realm which makes me appreciate being a member. I’m curious if you think the 3-pack of Estates 375’s would be available to all members, or will it be limited?
I also enjoyed your descriptions of the 2024 wines and specifically how Houyi best represents the Realm mantra; I was already leaning toward getting some but this pushed me over the edge. A follow up question: what is your favorite Realm bottling of the last few years?
Impressed! These are up now on my page. I purchased a 3 pack. Huge thanks, @scott.becker and team!
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Just submitted my order which includes one of the 375mL packs. Thanks so much for your willingness to do this, and kudos to your team on getting this executed so quickly. Hope this shows up in future releases as well. Cheers.
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We pulled it off! Yes, everyone should see at least one 3-pack of 2024 Estate 375mL bottles in their allocation. So @amefford, we got you covered.
I won’t bore you with the logistics here but it’s been a monumental lift by the team in the past 24 hours to pull this off. If you are happy to see the 3-pack, feel free to drop Claire a note at team@realmcellars.com or call the winery at 707-224-1910. We had a healthy debate about whether there’s really enough demand for these or not. Really appreciate the feedback from folks here and I’m especially grateful to our team for being so nimble.
If you open all three bottles together this fall, remember to give them some air to breathe. Even the half bottles because I think the 2024 vintage needs it. And then send us a note with your impressions. I think the distinction between each of the three estates is becoming more clear, but ultimately you will be the judge of that!
To your follow up question @amefford, it’s such a difficult question for me as you can imagine. So I’ll give you a few answers. 2018 Moonracer has turned out to be special - it needs more time so I wouldn’t recommend opening right now. If you open any 2018’s, I would recommend a healthy decant. From 2019, I love Hartwell XX and Dr. Crane right now. I think 2021 Absurd stands out for me. I love the approachability of all the 2022’s right now (especially tasting 2024’s) so I’m drinking all of those with some regularity. In 2023, I’m back to Hartwell XX and I love how Houyi is showing. I will also say I think 2023 Bard punches well above its weight, and you will find the same to be true in 2024. The Bard blend is back to a more classic focus on mostly Cabernet Sauvignon with a touch of Cab Franc and Merlot. Does that answer your question? I realize I gave you several answers instead of just one.
@Keith_B2 I’m a slow learner, but we won’t miss the opportunity to include 375’s in releases again!
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