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The May 2025 Auction: Part 3
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1 / 2Lot 828
Estimate: $300
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Collection name
Reviews
96RP
"The 2012 Proprietary Red Blend The Tempest (55% Merlot from the Beckstoffer To-Kalon Vineyard, 22% Cabernet Franc from the Kenefick Vineyard, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon from Farella Vineyard and 5% Petit Verdot from the Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard) possesses a complex bouquet of licorice, barbecue smoke, incense, blueberries and black cherries infused with mocha and a whiff of freshly brewed coffee. With a beautiful texture, superb intensity, and an opulent, full-bodied style, it is a dramatic and ostentatious 2012 to drink over the next decade or more. Realm Cellars boasts an impressive team of highly motivated men and women led by Juan Mercado and winemaker Benoit Touquette. The consulting winemaker is Michel Rolland. Realm accesses some outstanding vineyard sources, particularly those owned by the omnipresent, bigger-than-life force of Napa Valley, Andy Beckstoffer. Fate was not kind to Realm in the beginning with their first vintage, 2003, completely destroyed by a fire in a Vallejo warehouse where it was being stored. But Juan Mercado, a former medic in the first Gulf war, and someone who learned his trade from the likes of Thomas Rivers Brown, Michel Rolland, John Kongsgaard and Les Behrens, stuck with it, and is now producing incredible wines. These 2012s represent the finest efforts Realm has produced to date. The heart of the Realm philosophy is to access some of Napa Valley’s finest vineyards and put together either single-vineyard bottlings or creative proprietary blends. All of these 2012s were outrageously delicious, and I can’t recommend them highly enough."
Region
Red
Country
Score
"The 2012 Proprietary Red Blend The Tempest (55% Merlot from the Beckstoffer To-Kalon Vineyard, 22% Cabernet Franc from the Kenefick Vineyard, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon from Farella Vineyard and 5% Petit Verdot from the Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard) possesses a complex bouquet of licorice, barbecue smoke, incense, blueberries and black cherries infused with mocha and a whiff of freshly brewed coffee. With a beautiful texture, superb intensity, and an opulent, full-bodied style, it is a dramatic and ostentatious 2012 to drink over the next decade or more. Realm Cellars boasts an impressive team of highly motivated men and women led by Juan Mercado and winemaker Benoit Touquette. The consulting winemaker is Michel Rolland. Realm accesses some outstanding vineyard sources, particularly those owned by the omnipresent, bigger-than-life force of Napa Valley, Andy Beckstoffer. Fate was not kind to Realm in the beginning with their first vintage, 2003, completely destroyed by a fire in a Vallejo warehouse where it was being stored. But Juan Mercado, a former medic in the first Gulf war, and someone who learned his trade from the likes of Thomas Rivers Brown, Michel Rolland, John Kongsgaard and Les Behrens, stuck with it, and is now producing incredible wines. These 2012s represent the finest efforts Realm has produced to date. The heart of the Realm philosophy is to access some of Napa Valley’s finest vineyards and put together either single-vineyard bottlings or creative proprietary blends. All of these 2012s were outrageously delicious, and I can’t recommend them highly enough."
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The fourth-largest wine producer in the world, led by California. American fine wine is defined by ripe, expressive fruit and a spirit of innovation, with Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon among the most sought-after wines globally.
California's most prestigious wine region, celebrated worldwide for opulent, structured Cabernet Sauvignon. Diverse soils and mountain-to-valley-floor sites yield wines of remarkable ripeness, power and longevity.
California's flagship appellation for opulent, structured Cabernet Sauvignon of ripe fruit, plush tannins and cellar-worthy depth.
Realm Cellars is a cult Napa Valley producer known for powerful, polished Bordeaux-style red blends and single-vineyard Cabernets from prized sites such as Dr. Crane and Farella.
The world's most planted premium red grape, yielding deeply colored, tannic and structured wines with cassis, cedar and graphite notes. Firm tannins and acidity make it exceptionally age-worthy, whether as a varietal or the backbone of a Bordeaux blend.
Produces plush, supple, fruit-forward reds with plum and chocolate notes. Softer and earlier-maturing than Cabernet, it adds flesh and roundness to blends and stars in Right Bank Bordeaux.