Realm Cellars The Bard Red Blend 2021 (750ml)
Product price
$159.97
Description
Realm Cellars' The Bard is a Napa Valley Cabernet blend from the 2021 vintage, built primarily on Cabernet Sauvignon (83%) with supporting roles from Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Petite Sirah. This is a full-bodied red that shows the structure and depth Napa Cabernet is known for, yet remains approachable and generous in its delivery.
The wine opens with red cherry and cassis, threaded through with pencil shaving minerality and subtle herbaceous notes. The palate is voluptuous and layered, revealing dark red fruit, mocha, licorice, new leather, and pipe tobacco, all anchored by pliant, chocolaty tannins that feel silky rather than austere. Bay laurel, coriander, and cumin spice emerge alongside cedar and tobacco leaf on the finish, which stretches long and refined without any rough edges. This is a wine built for the cellar, yet it drinks with remarkable balance and flavor intensity right now, offering the kind of accessible decadence that rewards both immediate enjoyment and patient aging.
Product Details
| Category | Wine |
| Color | Red |
| Country | USA |
| Region | California |
| Subregion | Napa Valley |
| Varietal | Cabernet Sauvignon |
| Producer | Realm Cellars |
| Vintage | 2021 |
| Size | 750 ML |
| Subtype | Still |
Expert Reviews
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.
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.
A blend of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot and 2% Petite Sirah, Realm's 2021 The Bard is a terrific effort that must be called something of a value in the context of Napa Valley Cabernet. Pencil shavings and faint hints of herbs accent red cherries and cassis on the nose, while the palate is full-bodied, with a long, velvety finish with no trace of heat. A large portion of the fruit comes from Upper Range, with portions from Blair (in Calistoga) and some bits of Realm's various single vineyards.