Dear Friends of Realm Cellars:
Greetings from Napa Valley! Consistent with our practice of providing regular updates, we are pleased to share with you a summary of the latest Realm Cellars news, upcoming releases and calendar of events.
2009 Premiere Napa Valley – Realm tied for 5th place!
We are very pleased to report that the winning bid of $16,000 for Realm’ 5-case Premiere auction lot tied for 5th place out of 200 total lots in terms of price paid per case (lot sizes varied from 5 to 20+ cases) and tied for 11th place overall (on a gross proceeds basis). Given this was only our 2nd year participating in this annual event for the trade, we were excited about the reception for our 2007 Beckstoffer To Kalon Cabernet Sauvignon lot during the 3-day event this past weekend. Congratulations to the winning bidder - Capitol Cellars in Sacramento! We are pleased to have contributed to raising a total of $1,487,500 during Saturday’s auction at the CIA in St. Helena.
2005 The Absurd – release begins next week (March 2nd)
Derived from our best barrels, The Absurd is a special blend that was intended to be the most powerful and complex wine from our 2005 vintage portfolio. A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Merlot, this wine possesses the same elegance and finesse that we associate with our other 2005 vintage wines. Each 3-pack of The Absurd contains three unique labels that were hand-applied and every label and wooden box was hand stamped with identical numbers (from 001-848). Bottled in May 2007, only 212 cases (848 3-packs) of this wine were produced. The Absurd has won several prestigious design awards and we look forward to sharing more details with you beginning next week (March 2nd).
Mailing List update – implementing a “Wait List”
We are pleased to have surpassed our goal of selling 80% of our 2005 vintage production directly to our Mailing List customers and so we thank you all for your support! These milestones enable us to focus our energies and resources towards our loyal customer base that has contributed to our success to date. Accordingly, our Mailing List is now closed to new signups and we have established a “Wait List”. To avoid reducing allocations to our existing Mailing List customers, we do not anticipate being able to offer wine to our “Wait List” for the next 2-3 years. We will still observe the “3 Strikes” policy whereby customers who elect not to purchase three consecutive releases will be moved over to the “Wait List”.
2006 Vintage Wines & Release Parties
Representing our 5th bottled vintage, we are excited about sharing our 2006 vintage portfolio with our mailing list customers in late March or early April. These wines are more dense and structured than their 2005 equivalents, but they possess the same rich aromatics. Production volumes are significantly lower in 2006 but we still managed to produce 3 single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon wines along with 2 signature blends. Consistent with our past practices, Realm will be hosting release parties in San Francisco, New York City and Los Angeles, along with Houston this year for our loyal customers in the Lone Star state! RSVPs will be required for all these release parties and will be limited to mailing list customers and their guests.
Recent Exposure in the Wine Press
Since our last update we are pleased to report we continue to receive meaningful exposure and praise from the wine press. In the annual Wine Spectator Cabernet Report (Nov 15th issue) Realm wines were cited as being among the very best wines from the 2005 vintage. We were thrilled to find a Realm bottle featured prominently on the front cover of the December 2008 issue of Wine & Spirits magazine after our 2005 Beckstoffer To Kalon Cabernet Sauvignon was deemed one of the strongest To Kalon wines by a tasting panel of prominent Sommeliers. These accolades, coupled with the reception we received at the 2009 Premiere Napa Valley auction, are the source of continued motivation for the entire Realm Cellars team as we strive to elevate quality with each new vintage.
Calendar of Events
Below is an abbreviated summary of the events where we expect to
be pouring Realm Cellars wines over the next four months. We look
forward to seeing those of you who plan on attending!
High Museum Wine Auction (Atlanta, GA) March 26th-28th
Pebble Beach Food & Wine (Pebble Beach, CA) April 16th-19th
Destin Charity Wine Auction (Destin, FL) April 24th-25th
Beverly Hills Bar Foundation Tasting (Beverly Hills, CA) May 2nd-3rd
Napa Valley Wine Auction (St. Helena, CA) June 4th-7th
Thank you for your continued interest in Realm Cellars and support
for our wines.
Regards,
| Wendell Laidley Proprietor |
Juan Mercado Proprietor |
Claire-Marie Laidley Proprietor |
Michael Hirby Winemaker |