Rourke's Random Musings

REALM CELLARS VINTAGE 2004 RELEASE PARTY - Nectar Wine Lounge, San Francisco (5/24/2006)

As usual, a great event. All the wines were awesome, and I’ll be buying a bunch. In trying to differenciate, below are my notes.

• 2004 Realm Cellars The Tempest - USA, California, Napa Valley
  Nose of dark fruit and chocolate. This seemed a little soft and hot to me. I enjoyed the wine, but there didn’t seem to be enough tannin and structure to hold up to the alcohol and fruit. I tend to like hugely tannic beasts, though, so it might just be me. (89 pts.)
• 2004 Realm Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To-Kalon Vineyard - USA, California, Napa Valley, Oakville
  Lush mouthfeel, big nose of dark fruit and some green. In this mouth this was not as big as I expected, with some green flavors still. There seemed to be some tannin lacking, and the midpalate was a touch thin. Long finish of dark, sweet fruit. I left a bit of this in a glass for an hour+ and came back to it. After an hour the green blew off and was replaced by smoke. Later still, this was dominated by oak. (90 pts.)
• 2004 Realm Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Farella Vineyard - USA, California, Napa Valley, Coombsville
  My favorite wine of the Realm 2004 wines. This had the biggest nose, all fruit. Lush and perfect in the mouth, with just the right amount of acid and tannin. Don’t get me wrong, this is a *big* wine, but the massive tannin is balanced by the massive fruit and solid structure. Complex, long finish. (94 pts.)
• 2004 Realm Cellars The Bard - USA, California, Napa Valley
  This was my second favorite wine of the night, and very close to the Farella. Nose was somewhat muted but got bigger with air. This wine was very dark, full of dark fruits and chocolate. There was a spicyness here that wasn’t present in the Farella that was nice. There was even more tannin and structure to this wine. Jen thought this was “Zinny,” which is high praise from her — this was her favorite wine of the night. (93 pts.)

Interestingly, the only real distinct “oak” notes I got were in the To-Kalon that had been sitting out for hours. Normally, I’d expect wines this young to be dominated by oak.

I’m torn: in trying to decide how much of each wine to buy, I don’t know whether to trust myself or Tanzer. ST rated the To-Kalon highest and the Farella lowest (of the Cabs) and I had the exact opposite reaction. Were these older, I’d definitely go with my impression, but these wines are *very* young and I’m very inexperienced in predicting how wines will evolve with even a little age.

Posted from CellarTracker