Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 The Tempest, a blend of 62% Merlot, 33% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot is a 500-case cuvée aged in about 65% new Taransaud and Darnajou French oak cooperage. A beautiful nose of cedar wood, chocolate, spice box, forest floor and black and red fruits jumps from the glass of this dense, opulent, voluptuously textured and full-bodied wine with terrific purity, can be drunk now, or cellared for up to another 15 or more years.
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Vinous
The 2014 The Tempest, Realm's Merlot-based blend, is a fine choice for drinking now and over the next five to ten years. Ripe dark cherry, plum, chocolate and licorice are front and center. The Tempest shows the riper style that Realm favored in their earlier days.
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.