November 25, 2023 - Really nice bottle of wine. Opened 4 hours and allowed to slow ox. The nose is all fruit with a touch of cinnamon. The palate is swirling flavors of blackberry, red cherry, red plums, figs, currants and a little cinnamon which leads to a long rich finish.
September 30, 2023 - Tasty, tasty, tasty! Coconut, cassis and blueberries on the palate. Velvety and structured at the same time. Great finish that went on forever.
April 17, 2023 - (5/5) - Deep ruby color with hints of purple.
(14/15) - Fantastic nose showing a bit more red fruit than the 2016 Aperture Nomad Merlot we put against this. Red Raspberry, plum, pomegranate, oak spices.
(18/20) - Continues to improve. As noted before this vintage shows a bit more restraint than 2015 version. Sad this was my last bottle as I think this likely drinks a bit better still in a couple more years.
(7/10) - We paired this as a showdown against a 2016 Aperture Nomad (Sugarloaf Merlot) and I felt the Aperture was more to my liking by a point or two and seemed to get a bit more care and attention than the more entry level Realm Merlot. Still a wonderful wine and would certainly drink more if I had more of this vintage.
December 3, 2022 - One of like to revisit in a while. Better than the 17 but maybe not quite the heights of 15, though given it’s vigour maybe it will hop over.
September 9, 2022 - Similar to before. Good now with a few hours of air and bear after 4-5 hours. Drink or hold.
December 5, 2021 - Last tasted over 2 years ago, the wood on the wine is now it’s dominant feature. High quality French oak, but it really sticks out at the moment. Vanilla, coconut and all that. The wine is rich and has some black plum and luxardo cherry, but still needs more time to shed the wood, which is more or less how I felt last time as well.
November 7, 2021 - Double decanted. With that, after an hour, was in the blackberry/dark berry, dark chocolate sweet spot. Medium long finish. Good acidity. Tannins in balance
November 5, 2021 - Merlot dominant blend from the geniuses over at Realm. This vintage shows a dark Ruby color and upon PnP showing mostly red fruits, some plum, raisin funk(bet it blows off), red licorice and some sage or menthol. A brighter acidity on the 2016 than I remember on the 2015. Fantastically smooth entry of plum, raspberry, cherry and spice with no heat and young sprightly tannins!
November 2, 2021 - Popped and poured from a bottle that was coravined into about 2 months ago with half remaining. Nose is big, red fruited raspberry, red and black cherry, some leather, flavors are the same some blackberry too, a bit tannic but not to the point of being unpleasant, mild acidity but more than would be expected. This is a ripe wine for sure but not overly ripe, drinking blind would guess can but blend is merlot dominant. Very nice but does show its alcohol a little.
September 11, 2021 - Typical Realm creaminess, blackberry liquer, chocolate covered cherries, darkest of fruit, brooding, dark color, plush, subtle smokiness/tobacconess(?) really a dense substantial texture, min 1 hr air & 3 hrs works as well, PnP is decent but it is more complex and plush after air, coats the glass with a thin film of purple, just beautiful.
After a week+ on nitrogen it was less creamy and brighter somehow, very fine sediment in the last pour gave it a more drying effect, still very nice just different, less brooding. Liked it more on the first go-round.