Need to decide before midnight whether to take my Realm allocation, Farella is an easy yes as Dr. Crane used to be, but we are now at about $250 a bottle shipped. It’s great wine no doubt, but I already have a bunch in the cellar and I’m wondering where else I should be looking in this increasingly rarefied air.
Personally, I would go pick up some great Bordeaux, but my wife loves this style, as do I on occasion.
So for those who appreciate the style, where else would you be looking that may offer a slightly longer runway of affordability.
Benoit makes Hartwell too. With more control at the winery post-Realm-acquisition, I’ve been meaning to taste these newer Hartwell wines. Realm Moonracer is an evolution of some premium Hartwell lots.
Anderson’s Conn Valley. I bought a little Realm but there is plenty out there for much less and better.
This is my find of the year for $30 so far this year:
2014 Buena Vista Cabernet Sauvignon Chateau Buena Vista (USA, California, Napa Valley) 94 points
Day 1: Lighter in color. Nose offers toasted oak, plum, cherry and coffee beans. On the palate good use of oak and fruits and apparent and pleasing. Very balanced overall and even though it is a 2014 don’t hesitate to pop and pour. I will see where this wine goes on day 2 and 3. Should be interesting.
Day 2: Nice fruits on the nose. Oak, spices, coffee beans and rose petals. On the finish picks up a crushed rock quality. Medium plus finish and an excellent value. This is even better than day 1. 93 points.
Day 3: Even better with menthol, toasted oak, spices, dark currants and crushed rock. For concentrated effort and what an amazing value. The evolution of this wine over three days is quite remarkable. Why more people don’t see the evolution of younger wines over the course of time is mind blowing. 94 plus!!! (438 views)
you mention plenty of wines better than realm and for ‘much less’. please elaborate- maybe give 3 or 4 of these ‘plenty’. you did a give a $30 wine ‘94 points’. were you inferring this is one of those wines that is better than realm?
I would argue though that despite Benoit making it, it really has almost nothing in common with Realm. It’s a really different wine.
I’m sorry, I don’t mean to sound like I’m attacking you, but you show that you’ve consumed one bottle of Realm, and it was a 2007 that was made by Mike Hirby, not Benoit Touquette. I would also argue that Conn Valley tastes nothing like Realm at all. Totally, totally different wine. I’ve never had the Buena Vista, but I have to imagine that if it comes out of the classic JCB playbook, and that there is minimal care being taken in the winemaking, which is exactly the opposite of what is going on at Realm.
Its been a while since I had the Maybach Materium but just had a glass of Fait Main LP 2014 and it has higher tannins and are not as polished as I remember the Maybach to be. The higher tannins might be due to the Las Piedras fruit. The FM LP fruit quality is definitely there as well as the nose and color.
Good to hear. I have a bottle of his 2014 vintage. FWIW, my 2017 WOTY was Realm’s ‘The Bard’. A Francophile buddy of mine said it was the best red he’s ever consumed. I can’t go that far, but it was damn good.