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Greg Beall
Grape Sorter
Posts:262
 | | 08/06/2005 4:31 PM |
| Juan Mercado one of the owners of Realm Cellars came to Minneapolis July 28th to pour their 2003 lineup of wine. This was the first of a number of dinners to be held around the country by Realm to publicize their wine. They chose Minneapolis to be the first dinner since Realm has a following here already. Wendell Laidley, the other owner, used to work in Minneapolis in the financial field and has a number of wine geek friends here. The dinner was held at JP American Bistro in South Minneapolis, an excellent choice. About 20-25 winegeeks had the privilege of trying their recently bottled 2003s.
Their mailer will go out in about a month. Prices for the Tempest and the ToKalon are the same as last year.
Steve Sigmund has athread on ebob, which you may already have seen:
http://fora.erobertparker.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi/topic/1/62188.html?
At present, Realm consists of Wendell, Juan and Mike Hirby, their winemaker. They have excellent grape sources and it shows. All wines were recently bottled and only decanted for 6 hours prior to being poured.
2003 The Tempest Napa Valley Red Wine (76% Merlot / 12% Cabernet Sauvignon / 9% Cabernet Franc / 3% Petit Verdot) $65. Their Right Bank, merlot based blend. No mistaking this. Soft, silky with loads of sweet blackberries and dark cherries. Smooth finish somewhat obscured by tannins. 91 CW pts.
2003 The Bard Napa Valley Red Wine (90% Cabernet Sauvignon / 5% Merlot / 5% Petit Verdot). $75. I am not sure if one can give out this vineyard source (it was in Tanzer's May/June 05 IWC). This wine had incredible nose and aromatics. Very tannic right now but hints of wonderful fruit and spice poke through suggesting something special down the road. 93 CW pts.
2003 Farella Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. $75. From a Coombsville vineyard at the base of Mt. George. Clone 7 Cabernet. Lots of blueberries and blackberries but seemed disjointed at present as if needing more acidity or backbone. Hard to rate at present. Would like to revisit this in 12 months.
2003 Beckstoffer To Kalon Cabernet Sauvignon. $85. This is the real deal. This wine has it together even though young. Seemless from start to finish. Very balanced; incredible fruit, nice acidity and a real backbone. The WOTN at our table. 96 CW points. (Being relatively new to the fine-wine game, I am not sure how to rate something this high end. I have not had a better Cab to date than this one).
A great evening. It was wonderful and informative to spend some time with Juan who divided his night up among the 3 tables. A gracious host and classy guy. We will definitely be buying!! Some other mailer(s) will have to go to the circular file. | | | |
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