Winemaker Notes
The 2018 Realm Cellars Beckstoffer Bourn displays distinct aromatics that are perfumed with floral notes after certain sips. Upon first sip, the very dense mid-palate culminates into a soft and elegant finish.
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
A wine that was previous released under the Kata label, the 2018 Beckstoffer Bourn is a gorgeous 2018 that does everything right, offering a vivid purple color, incredible notes of blue fruits, cassis, violets, chocolate, and graphite, full-bodied richness, a sexy, opulent texture, and sweet tannins. Mostly Cabernet Sauvignon yet with 10% Petit Verdot, it’s one of the more approachable, ready-to-go wines in the Realm lineup in 2018, yet my money is on this beauty evolving for 20 years or more.
-
James Suckling
Lovely, perfumed aromas of blackcurrants, dried blueberries, lavender and licorice. Chocolate orange and praline, too. It’s full-bodied, yet fresh and refined. Firm, sleek tannins frame the ripe-fruit flavors. Balanced and relatively restrained. This is a new wine from Realm. A blend of cabernet sauvignon with petit sirah. It used to be Kata from Beckstoffer.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This single-vineyard wine wine is new to Realm from this 2018 vintage, although Realm's winemaker, Benoit Touquette, has made wine from Bourn since 2011, under the Kata label (which is no longer made). Bourn vineyard is located next to Levensohn vineyard, to the west of St. Helena, but produces a very different style of wine due to dramatic variations in soil types.
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.