2014 Realm Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Horizontal

“There are 400 cases of the 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard, which is 96% Cabernet Sauvignon and 4% Petit Verdot. This comes from the backstreets of St. Helena and the site basically looks like a quarry with its extreme gravelly soils. The wine is made from clone 337, which may be my favorite of the Cabernet clones. As I have said before, this is a Mission Haut-Brion on steroids – an incredibly fabulous wine with notes of scorched earth, charcoal embers, blackberry and blueberry fruit, an almost endless mouthfeel with powerful fruit, but elegance as well as purity. A thoroughly flawless and seamless full-bodied wine with 30 years of upside, this is pure perfection. If you have the patience, try to hold off for a couple of years, as this is one of the more structured of the 2014s. (RP)” (12/2016)

“An exquisitely complete wine reminiscent of a tightly wound ball of silk. Medium to full body and mind-blowing flavors of iodine, blackberries and blueberries. It seems to open up beautifully. Goes on for minutes.” (01/2017)

“Intense stone and blackberry character. A kaleidoscope of flowers and berries. Herbs, too. Blueberries, blackberries and licorice. Lead pencil, too. Medium-to full-bodied, savory and juicy with big tannins. Gorgeous. To Kalon grandeur. Yes!” (01/2017)

“Another 100% Cabernet Sauvignon is the 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer to Kalon Vineyard, coming from clones 4 and 337 from that famous first-growth Oakville vineyard of 90 acres. Remarkably, the Robert Mondavi winery still owns even larger portion of the To Kalon Vineyard, but certainly doesn’t exploit it to the extent that most purchasers of Beckstoffer To Kalon fruit do. This cuvée of 450 cases is closer to a Château Latour in a great vintage than you might believe, since it’s from Napa Valley. Notes of graphite, charcoal, blackcurrant liqueur and cedar wood are followed by a muscular, full-bodied wine with fabulous purity, a skyscraper-like texture and a long, long finish, with moderately sweet, ripe tannin. Give it several years of cellaring and drink it over the following three decades, as it is a fabulous effort. (RP) 97+” (12/2016)

“The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard is a gorgeous wine from this period at Realm. Ample, rich and explosive, the 2014 is seriously intense. It offers up an exotic mélange of inky dark fruit, chocolate, leather, licorice, incense and gravel. A full-throttle, opulent wine, the 2014 is magnificent. (AG)” (01/2025)