Realm Cellars Houyi Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 (750ml)
Product price
$399.99
Description
Realm Cellars' 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon from the Houyi Vineyard on Pritchard Hill in Napa Valley marks the winery's first vintage following their acquisition of the site. The blend is 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, with Cabernet Franc and a touch of Petit Verdot rounding out the structure. The vineyard's southern exposure and warm nights required careful sorting in what proved a challenging vintage overall, but the result is an impressively dense and concentrated wine.
On the nose, black cherry and blackberry mingle with aromas of dried herbs, tobacco leaf, and warming spices. The palate opens with layers of ripe red and dark fruit, mocha, and sweet cedar, then deepens into notes of sage, thyme, and rosemary, all threaded through with perfumed, high-toned florals. The wine is full-bodied with substantial structure, its ripe tannins carrying through to the finish with a dusting of minerality. There's considerable richness here, yet it's held taut by bright acidity and herbal precision. This is a wine built for aging, one that will benefit from several years in the cellar as it settles and finds greater harmony.
Product Details
| Category | Wine |
| Color | Red |
| Country | USA |
| Region | California |
| Subregion | Napa Valley |
| Varietal | Cabernet Sauvignon |
| Producer | Realm Cellars |
| Vintage | 2022 |
| Size | 750 ML |
| Subtype | Still |
Expert Reviews
Farming for this site was taken over in January, with pruning led by Benoit Touquette and executed by David Abreu’s team. “We set the vineyard and canopy up for success,” says Scott Becker. With its southern exposure on Pritchard Hill, the site retained heat even at night, leaving the vines no chance to rest, making sorting critical in 2022. For all the hand-wringing over the vintage’s challenges, this is an impressive wine. Alluring aromas of unsmoked tobacco, fresh sage, coriander cream, and baking spices lead into a vibrant fruit profile—red, black, and blue-toned, with excellent density. Sweet cedar and mocha flood the palate, delivering the characteristic Realm richness, yet with notable precision. The ripe tannins carry through, layered with dried sage, thyme, and rosemary, all lifted by perfumed high tones. Full-bodied and structured, this wine balances richness with tension, promising a strong future.
The 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Houyi Vineyard is a dense, explosive wine. It shows the radiant, solar style of the year but with the body and texture that so many wines lack. This is the first vintage Realm made following their acquisition of this site, and they conducted the heaviest sorting here. Super-ripe red cherry, red plum, mocha, spice, lavender and orange peel stain the palate. This is a stellar wine for the year.
Realm's 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Houyi Vineyard includes 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. Aromas of black cherries, blackberry notes and hints of dried herbs mark the nose, while the medium- to full-bodied palate is framed by dusty tannins, which exhibit a slight coarseness on the finish. This is impressively concentrated but less than charming at this stage. Give it a few years in the cellar.