Realm "The Bard" Cabernet Sauvignon 2021
(Napa Valley, California) - [JD 98] [TWI 97] [JS 97] [DM 97] [VM 95]

Pre-Order - ETA is five business days from order

Notes from the Winemaker:
The 2021 is the largest and most complex blend we've ever made with dozens of components from vineyards across the realm of Napa Valley. This vintage includes new vineyard sources from Calistoga, Rutherford and Oak Knoll AVA, allowing us to broaden our painter’s palette. The Bard is generally more approachable in its youth than some of our single vineyard bottlings, but we expect it to age for many years to come.

This is our first time using a technical cork for this wine, which should guarantee consistency and improve longevity.

The label art is taken from a pocket-size edition of Shakespeare’s Richard II. The edition is The Chiswick Shakespeare, a text that first appeared in 1901. The label zeroes in on the opening of Act II, Scene I, on the page that contains the quote, “This blessed plot, this earth, this realm…”. This quote captures the essence of The Bard, a dynamic blend showcasing blessed plots from the realm of Napa Valley

Tasting Notes:
Decadent and plush, bursting with dark red fruits, creamy chocolate and warm spices. There’s a freshness and vibrancy that belies its density and weight. The tannins are round and creamy and provide immediate drinkability. This is the epitome of the Realm style. A pure pleasure to drink. Could age for many years…but why wait?!

Technical Notes

Appellation: Napa Valley

Sense of Place: A dynamic blend from throughout Napa Valley; from Coombsville to Calistoga, east side to west side, hillside and valley floor

Varietal Composition: 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot, 1% Petite Sirah.

Distinguishing Characteristics: Punches above its weight; richness, complexity; red and black fruit

First Vintage: 2003

Ratings & Reviews

This wine was not bottled in the 2020 vintage due to wildfires.

98 Points - Jeb Dunnuck:
"Lastly, the 2021 The Bard checks in as 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Petit Verdot and Petite Sirah. This beauty has a killer bouquet of cassis, spring flowers, graphite, chalky minerality, and violets. This carries to a full-bodied, seamless, silky, flawlessly balanced effort revealing fine tannins, a good sense of freshness, and a thrilling finish." (Dec 2023)

97 Points - The Wine Independent:
"A blend of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot, and 1% Petite Sirah, the fruit for the 2021 The Bard comes from sites across the valley, including some estate fruit and some sourced fruit. Deep garnet-purple colored, it shoots from the glass with vibrant notions of crushed black currants, red currant jelly, black raspberries, and pencil shavings, giving way to notes of lilacs, dark chocolate, and a waft of spearmint. The full-bodied palate is firm with ripe, fine-grained tannins and a lively backbone framing the tightly wound red, black, and blue fruit flavors, finishing with great length and a real skip in its step." - Lisa Perrotti-Brown (Sep 2023)

97 Points - James Suckling: 
"The purity of fruit here is impressive with blackcurrants, bark and black mushrooms. Full-bodied but light-footed and fresh with integrated tannins that melt into the wine. Real transparency and focus. 83% cabernet sauvignon, 7% merlot, 6% cabernet franc, 3% petit verdot and 1% petite sirah. So drinkable but can age as well." (Nov 2023)

97 Points - Decanter Magazine:
"After sampling 86 wines over a two-day marathon tasting with Realm Cellars co-owners Scott Becker and winemaker Benoit Touquette, I had no doubt that one would make my top 10 list of the year. It would be The Bard, which will be available beginning in 2024. It is a very giving wine that promises great rewards for long-term cellaring and is enjoyable three full nights in a row, never losing its zeal if having one great glass each night is your prerogative. Power and muscle frame the core of this towering red, with its red-toned fruits and rich, toasty oak spices nuanced by bay Laurel and pastis. Full-bodied with tremendous decadence of chocolaty tannins that are pliant and billowy, lifted by supple blackberry and black raspberry fruit, a drizzle of cherry coulis, and resolving with refined tobacco, cedar wood spices, and laced with coriander and cumin aromatics. It has a satisfyingly rich finish. Number five of my top 10 wines of 2023." - Jonathan Cristaldi (Dec 2023)

95 Points - Vinous Media:
"The 2021 The Bard is fabulous. Rich, ample and beautifully resonant, the 2021 offers up generous dark red cherry/plum fruit, mocha, new leather, licorice, spice, menthol and pipe tobacco. Full-bodied and voluptuous, the 2021 flaunts tons of flavor intensity and vibrancy. It’s a gorgeous wine, especially considering it is the largest-production wine at Realm." - Antonio Galloni (Dec 2023)