Community Tasting Notes 23

• MAXIMUM SATISFACTION wrote: 95 points

  October 15, 2023 - Drank from a magnum that was open all day. Really good though not the best Realm Crane year. Loads of milk chocolate, cassis and ripe berries. Nothing shy about this wine other than a bit of tannin on the finish. Drink or hold 5 more years.

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• Cailles wrote: 96 points

  September 3, 2023 - Three Realm 2015s side by side. I'm not a big fan of this vintage, as the wines can often be too ripe for my tastes, cloying and with the alcohol showing. However, Realm did a good job of avoiding the biggest pitfalls. Especially the Dr. Crane and the Farella were well-behaved without much excess. The winner was the Dr. Crane (96pts), the most complex, precise and elegant of the trio. A step behind the Farella (94pts), which had a good freshness and was full of finesse, but lacked the complexity of the other two. The Bard (93pts) had an impressive aromatic spectrum but was a little too heavy.
  
  TN: Elegant dark and blue berry nose, herbs and fine hints of coffee like in a Cheval Blanc. On the palate so elegant and put together with fine dark to red fruit, seductive coffee notes, fresh minty notes, some spearmint and floral notes along some darker fruit and minerality. So elegant and fine tannins, good acidity which keeps the wine quite airy, but with creamy tannins. Lots of blue fruit and violets on the long finish. This is the most complex and complete wine and very harmonious. While good to drink today, this could reach an even higher high once mature.
  
  Decanting: Not decanted, no extensive decanting necessary.

  Comments (1)

• Mbad77 wrote: 96 points

  August 13, 2023 - Top Napa Cab. Heady nose and quite forward but still has bags of acid, tannic, grip and a real freshness holding it all up - it’s not a gloopy fruit bomb. Time will help ease things up but easy enough to drink the bottle, maybe with a food component. 14.5%
  Just lovely - such a long long finish witb spice and persistence

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• Tonythefish wrote: 95 points

  October 2, 2022 - Blueberries and blackberries with deep almost opaque pour. Chocolate and tar notes. 30 second plus finish with relaxed tannins. Beautiful glass of wine

• Geaux Tigers wrote: 92 points

  December 31, 2021 - Purchased at release and stored at cellar temps since release.
  
  PnP a small glass, rest into,the decanter. Poured dark and lovely, looks like a Realm.
  
  On open this was a hot mess, medicinal and hot, you can tell it’s Crane, but in no way shape or form is this ready to drink.
  
  At 60 min, this started to settle down (I also cooled it down slightly to offset the booziness). But, still not giving much. Clearly a well made wine, clearly good grapes, just not ready to come out and play.
  
  At 90 min, still a little better. Bitter chocolate, sour berries, raspberry show up, but the whole thing is restrained. Still reserving judgment for this youngin.
  
  At 3 hrs, this started to integrate, the mouthfeel filled out with the mid palate joy so hollow. Hints of white flowers and saline showed on the nose. Unfortunately, the palate never really came alive, dominated by bitter chocolate, sour (unripened) berries and a hint of raspberry. A generous 92 at this point—extremely disappointed!
  
  At 4 hrs, only a slight improvement, upping to a full 92.
  
  Thank god for great champagne, this would have been a disappointing end to 2021.

  Comment

Pro Reviews 3

Wine Definition

• Vintage 2015
• Type Red
• Producer Realm Cellars
• Varietal Cabernet Sauvignon
• Designation n/a
• Vineyard Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard
• Country USA
• Region California
• SubRegion Napa Valley
• Appellation St. Helena

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 0 (0%)
• In Cellars 800 (76%)
• Consumed 254 (24%)

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