Important Update From the Founder

Comments on my notes

(5 comments on 3 notes)

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Red

2017 Realm Cellars The Bard Napa Valley Red Bordeaux Blend

1/25/2024 - Tim Heaton wrote:

PnP tasted non-blind over two hours. A chocolate Hostess cake is ready to go once opened, so is processed chocolate pudding, and so was this Bard. This is a big pool of chocolatey, over-ripe black and blue fruit, with a thick coat of vanilla, some carob, and molten Nestle's morsels - for good measure, I assume. Not having had tried this vintage before, I gave it a go; I'm always willing to see what's new, what may have changed. After four sips over forty minutes, I rinsed my (half-full) glass and moved on to the next wine in the lineup. No doubt this is a great cocktail, to some, but I can't think that this was meant to go with food (no doubt I'll get a lot of "with steak" comments), or at least not the type of food I prefer. And since I never have wine without food, The Bard and I aren't likely to cross paths again anytime soon. I reckon some twenty five+ years ago, in a social setting of some sort, I'd have actually finished that first glass, perhaps to fit in. Or for a quick sugar fix. So fast forward, and it's clear that's no longer a worry. I don't. Fit in. With the Realm crew, at least. If this is your jam, then this is another great vintage of the Bard, enjoy.

fwiw, the chocolate can be found under all the vanilla

e-r.portzline commented:

2/7/24, 5:24 PM - I get none of the chocolate that you’ve noted, but this is still not a great wine…. I’ve been buying Realm for a few years. They have been stingy on allocation and their process for allocating wines is absurd…. More points for posting on social media, more allocation, and I’m not on social media.

Perhaps you’ve had the same fun I’ve had getting an allocation, hence the tone of your review? I agree that this is not a good wine, and certainly not worth the price.

No one has yet mentioned steak, so I’ll be the first. I don’t think that this wine would be good even with a steak! :-)

Thanks to you - seriously - and a bottle of this very vintage that I opened, plus an ‘18 I had some time ago, I’m dropping out of the Realm realm. No more for my cellar…

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Rosé - Sparkling

2009 Schramsberg Vineyards J. Schram Rosé North Coast Champagne Blend

8/23/2020 - e-r.portzline Likes this wine:

94 points

Beautiful depth and color. Characteristics of strawberry and baking spices from the Pinot Noir shine through and keep the citrus and salinity from the Chardonnay at bay. This is a lovely wine, beautifully balanced, and drinking wonderfully. Based on differences between a bottle enjoyed earlier (perhaps 2 years ago) and this bottle, I expect the Pinot to continue to develop. One more to enjoy, and we may have to keep it a few years to see how it develops. Based on this bottle, it is high time to add more to the cellar... Patience!

e-r.portzline commented:

11/27/20, 11:41 AM - Honestly I don't remember it well enough to suggest a firm date, but CT drink window ends 2025... that may be a bit long. Since my notes indicate that the Pinot could develop more, I'm going to plan to finish our remaining bottle(s) by end of 2023.

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Red

2013 Joseph Phelps Insignia Napa Valley Red Bordeaux Blend

9/4/2019 - e-r.portzline Does not like this wine:

88 points

At a private tasting at JP, tasted this and the 2016. This is a really uninteresting and flat wine. Tannins nearly gone, no fruit, no depth. Nothing engaging that would give any hope that it will be worth drinking in 15 years. Had been decanted and shaken by staff two hours before tasting. Deep deep crimson color, long slow legs.

e-r.portzline commented:

9/19/19, 7:07 PM - wildmang666, there is nothing at all in my review that is unfair. The bottle had a known provenance, was opened by a senior member of staff at the JP winery, and was described as a proper representation of that vintage. The tasting notes stand as an accurate review of what the winery determined they wanted to showcase for that vintage. That’s not in any way unfair.
e-r.portzline commented:

9/20/19, 6:27 AM - I don’t believe any wine should be shaken. I didn’t shake the wine. They did.

My review stands as a quality and qualified review of the wine. I actually tasted it. Have you?

I see no comments from you, hence I suspect you’ve never tasted it. Do that first please and then write your own review. Otherwise I’m left to believe you either work for JP or have lots you wish to sell (if so, sell now),
e-r.portzline commented:

9/20/19, 12:23 PM - @Mark1npt; thank you. I buy a lot of wine to cellar as long as needed until it is ready. Unless the wine is in its drinking window when I taste it, none of my reviews are focused solely on how the wine is drinking in that moment. Rather, I review based on what the wine is currently showing regarding its promise for the future. I expect there to be complexity in a wine like the Insignia, even though that complexity is likely to be disjointed, messy, conflicting, one-sided, etc. In the case of this wine, there was nothing- no tannins for the long haul, no acidity, no fruit, etc. For other vintages, this complexity did exist. It is worth noting that others have rated the 2013 with a lower score than I did, some for the same reasons. I don't believe this was a bad bottle. I think this is not a good wine.

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Comments on my notes

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