Realm alternatives

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.

https://faitmainwines.com/

Benoit Touquette, Realm’s winemaker, this is his label, and the wines are silly good. Familiar Air is out of this world.

http://teeter-totter.com/

Teeter Totter is his other label, but the wines are more restrained than Realm or FM.

Also from Benoit is Kata.

Sourced exclusively from the Beckstoffer Bourne Vineyard in St Helena (used to be Hayne Vineyard). The blend is typically 80% CS and 20% Petit Syrah.

Its amazing juice at about $150-175 per. Not cheap but still a 20-30% discount from Realm…

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)

Honestly, I can’t think of many Napa Cab styles that are farther apart from each other than Realm and ACV.

Fyi, I enjoy both.

There is no alternative for Realm that I have tasted so far.

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.

How does Fait Main compare to Maybach in terms of style? At $175 per bottle, with a min 3 pack order, it’s hard to take a flyer on it but I’m curious.

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.

The new Carters are killing it. ‘15 La Verdad notes show it’s besting Realm and Shafer HSS in comparison tastings. About A c-note less per botte.

How many cases of Carter LP La Verdad were made? I can’t seem to find a bottle on the secondary market.

All the Carters are generally under 150 cases per.

That would explain why its difficult to purchase.

Brian, what are they charging for the 15’ La Verdad’s at Carter?

$160?

The FM Cab from Las Piedras is $525.00 per bottle.

No, that’s per 3 pack.

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.