2021 Realm Cellars, The Tempest, Napa Valley

Fresh, alluring, and highly approachable, this wine captivates with its pure red-fruited and eucalyptus-spiced aromatics. The enticing mid-palate richness, perfectly softened and creamy from the Merlot, carries through to a long, nuanced finish. Fashionably sweet and supple fruits of fleshy black cherry, black plum, and boysenberry are underscored by fine-grained tannins. Pops of brown sugar, intermixed with dark chocolate and mint, round out this dazzling and delicious red.

The Merlot-dominated 2021 The Tempest is a ripe, powerful wine with gorgeous blackcurrants, ripe cherries, chocolate, and flowery incense aromas and flavors that just about jump out of the glass. It's rich, full-bodied, and concentrated, and while they've changed the fruit sources here (more focused on the southern part of the appellation), this is still a rich, powerful wine.

A Merlot-dominant blend, Realm's 2021 The Tempest is 67% Merlot, 28% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Malbec, sourced predominantly from Farella in Coombsville. Lovely aromas of cherries are joined by hints of mocha, cedar and vanilla on the nose, while the full-bodied palate is juicy and red fruited, supple, with some earthy undercurrents and the barest hint of warmth on the finish.