2016 Realm Cellars The Falstaff

Community Tasting Notes (22) Avg Score: 95.5 points

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  4/6/2024 - jviz wrote: 95 Points

  This was really excellent, and in my opinion, a lovely point in its drinking window. Totally open and aromatic, with a prominent cinnamon stick note. Red fruited, with dusty cocoa coating the finish. Really delicious. It actually has quite of bit of runway ahead, but very much in balance today

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  3/10/2024 - ozziewine Likes this wine: 99 Points

  Must have been just the right mix of my mood and this particular bottle because tonight it was a classic 99 pointer for me.
  Astringent on opening, but a two hour decant and sliiiiight chill really mellowed this out, mellow being the ultimate descriptor of this.
  Used the Syrah glass.
  Elegant, fantastic depth of flavor and that signature Realm creaminess.
  Notes of chocolate, vanilla, smoke/oak, coconut and dark fruit.
  Thankfully did not get that wall of oak that TEAKY mentioned. Bottle variation alert!
  For me this was absolutely at peak, but it will last years if you like more maturity in your wine.

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  3/4/2023 - Teaky Likes this wine:

  Was hit by a big wall of oak at first so decided to decant. This was one of those wines where every sip was different which are always fun, on the nose get vanilla and coconut at first after a couple hours In the decanter the fruits emerge nice mixture of red and black though black is more dominant, cassis and blackberry dominate with red cherry in the background a bit smoky at times, mouthfeel was a bit astringent but overall very luxurious with low acidity moderate tannins and a very lengthy finish, a very nice wine that needs more time, definitely quite ripe but the oak needs to mellow a bit.

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  5/4/2022 - csimm wrote:

  Wild berry jubilee, cassis, cinnamon, and vanilla Schnapps dominate the profile here. In my previous note a couple of years ago, I characterized the initial experience of this wine as having “a curtain of youthful vanillin booze and cassis-laden liqueur staking claim,” which is certainly still the case with this most recent sample. The power and flex here override the would-be finesse; the deltoids on this Chris Hemsworth specimen are both magnificent and distracting. The purity of fruit is there, but for the brash delivery whack-a-moling it every time it tries to expand.
  
  The front end is a gorgeous gushing of black and deep raspberry-red fruit, but the delivery quickly turns into Reno cocktail hour with a finish that shows its biggin ABV. Youth still to blame? Sure. Certainly no new news in that regard; so, it behooves the best of us to hold on to these jocks for another 4-5 years. It’s a gut punch in the best of ways…if you’re an MMA guy into gut punches, I guess.
  
  Fear not Realm disciples, I’m not mad at it. You all know what you’re getting into here, but I’d highly recommend letting the steroids cycle-off for a bit, unless you’re just looking for an after-party bender type of experience to keep the 3AM buzz going. It’s as if it has ramped up the beefcake since my last having it in 2020.
  
  Pairs best with peanut butter fried puffer fish in blueberry syrup and mayonnaise coulis.

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  4/30/2022 - markcic Likes this wine: 95 Points

  Having dinner guests (in-laws) over last night and wanted to drink something special and a little different, I had never tried a Falstaff before and I knew I had a bunch in my cellar. I went looking for the 2014 but could not find where I put them in the disorganization that lives beneath my house but I did find a couple of 2016's and decided why not.
  
  I opened it 5 hours prior to dinner and was about to decant when my brother-in-law said don't bother - just use the vintorio. So that's what we did. This is a beautiful wine with a nose of dark red fruit, a touch of chocolate and some ripe figs. The palate was red and blue fruit, tobacco, fig, tree bark and chocolate. The finish was long. I will have to really go downstairs and find the 14's.

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