Realm Cellars The Bard (1.5 Liter Magnum) 2018
-
Dunnuck
Jeb -
Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
The Bard is a dense, weighty, and concentrated wine that year in and year out showcases the most dynamic expression of Napa Valley. This cabernet sauvignon based proprietary blend celebrates the art and precision required of meticulous blending, combining grapes from impeccable growing sites with the judicious oversight of the human hand and palate. A wine that punches far above its weight. BeckstofferTo Kalonand Dr. Crane, Houyi Vineyard, Blair Vineyard, Weitz Vineyard, Fortuna Vineyard, Beckstoffer Orchard, and Realm’s Stags Leap Estate Vineyard have all found a place in various vintages of The Bard. With vineyards spanning from Calistoga to Coombsville, from the Mayacamas Mountains to the Vaca Range, The Bard is the most complex and diverse blend Realm produces.
Blend: 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Cabernet Franc, 5% Merlot, 2% Petit Verdot, 2$ Petite Sirah
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
The 2018 The Bard is beautiful and certainly in the same realm as the 2015 and 2016, both magical wines. This cuvée reveals a deep purple color followed by a beautiful perfume of crème de cassis, blackberries, roasted coffee, spring flowers, and violets. With incredible richness, no hard edges, and a blockbuster finish, this incredible wine offers serious opulence with no sensation of heaviness or weight. It's beautifully done and already complex and nuanced. It will evolve for at least 15+ years.
-
James Suckling
Intense and perfumed aromas of cassis, mulberry, lavender, nutmeg and cloves. Praline, walnuts and dark chocolate, too. It’s full-bodied, creamy and polished with a precise finish. Firm yet smoothly coating tannins. Very fine.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 The Bard comes from 12 different vineyard sources and is composed from 40 separate lots. Deep garnet-purple colored, it soars from the glass with notions of crème de cassis, blueberry pie and plum preserves, giving way to a a wave of clove oil, chocolate box, exotic spices and cracked black pepper. Full-bodied, rich and plush in the mouth, it has loads of spice-spiked black fruit layers, lifted by just enough freshness, going long and mineral-laced on the finish. Rating: 96+
Other Vintages
2021-
Dunnuck
Jeb - Decanter
-
Suckling
James
-
Dunnuck
Jeb -
Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert
-
Dunnuck
Jeb -
Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert
-
Parker
Robert -
Dunnuck
Jeb -
Wong
Wilfred -
Enthusiast
Wine
-
Parker
Robert -
Suckling
James
-
Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert
-
Parker
Robert
-
Parker
Robert
Realm Cellars is one of Napa Valley’s most electrifying wine brands with estate vineyards in Stags Leap District, Pritchard Hill and Coombsville. In 2012, owner Scott Becker and his partner, winemaker Benoit Touquette teamed up to revive a nearly bankrupt brand. Since then, Realm has been transformed into one of the most collected wineries in Napa Valley, with a vineyard portfolio that today exemplifies the beauty and longevity of Napa Valley. Making wine at the very highest level is at the core of Realm Cellars. Since 2012, the wines have been awarded more 100-point scores from internationally recognized wine critics than any other producer in Napa Valley.
Formerly the Hartwell Estate, Realm acquired the property in 2015 and began initial construction and development phases of an endeavor that will take decades to realize. In 2022, Realm acquired Nine Suns and Houyi Vineyard in Napa Valley’s famed area, Pritchard Hill. Realm’s portfolio of wines includes estate, single vineyard wines and proprietary blends, unified by a “style” best described as a creative tension between richness and precision, density and finesse, purity of fruit and nuance. In addition to its estate vineyard sites, Realm partners with Napa Valley’s most prestigious and iconic wine growers and vineyard sites, including Beckstoffer Dr. Crane and Beckstoffer To Kalon.
Undoubtedly proving its merit over and over, Napa Valley is a now a leading force in the world of prestigious red wine regions. Though Cabernet Sauvignon dominates Napa Valley, other red varieties certainly thrive here. Important but often overlooked include Merlot and other Bordeaux varieties well-regarded on their own as well as for their blending capacities. Very old vine Zinfandel represents an important historical stronghold for the region and Pinot noir is produced in the cooler southern parts, close to the San Pablo Bay.
Perfectly situated running north to south, the valley acts as a corridor, pulling cool, moist air up from the San Pablo Bay in the evenings during the hot days of the growing season, which leads to even and slow grape ripening. Furthermore the valley claims over 100 soil variations including layers of volcanic, gravel, sand and silt—a combination excellent for world-class red wine production.