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The 2020 Cheval des Andes was harvested from the last of February for the first time ever. It was Gabillet’s second vintage at Cheval des Andes, and that year, he had to start without waiting for Pierre Olivier Clouet and Pierre Lurton from Cheval Blanc; when they arrived, they had finished picking the Malbec, which surprisingly was fresher in Las Compuertas (because of the higher percentage of clay?) than in Altamira (where the vines suffered more stress), saving the freshness. They now harvest using cold trucks (for the first time), and they also started earlier in the morning (six in the morning, impossible earlier in Mendoza...), which he reckons was very good for the precision of the wine. They used 40% 225-liter barrels, 40% 400-liter oak barrels and 20% 2,500-liter foudres, half of them new and with an élevage of 15 months on average, depending on the lots and varieties from 12 to 18 months. The final blend was 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Malbec and 2% Petit Verdot, which makes a comeback as it was not used since 2016. The key was to finish the fermentation of the Petit Verdot without skins, and that way, they have been able to use it in the blends of 2021, 2022 and 2023 in small but increasing percentages. This is slightly riper than 2019, with a little more alcohol (14.5%) and with very good structural tannins but saving the freshness, and it has the spicy side from the Petit Verdot (Gabillet talks about white pepper). The wine has the ultra sleek and polished texture and the elegance and the balance that is the signature here; the wine is very clean and precise. I see very good regularity across the three vintages I tasted next to each other—this 2020 and the 2018 and 2019. Overall, this is a triumph over the adverse conditions of the vintage. They produced their usual 100,000 bottles (since 2018), as they are renewing their vineyards and want to keep the volume stable. They produce this volume from the 36 productive hectares they have in Las Compuertas and Altamira.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 98 RPRipe, baked dark cherries with spices and some violets. Hints of graphite, cocoa powder, incense and black pepper. Dried rose petals. A slightly fuller Cheval des Andes with tense, silky tannins and a lingering, generous finish. Ripe, but still has lots of restraint and precision. 49% malbec, 49% cabernet sauvignon with a 2% petit verdot. 24% of the malbec comes from Altamira and all the rest of the fruit come from Las Compuertas. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 97 JSThe 2020 Cheval des Andes is a blend of 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 49% Malbec and 2% Petit Verdot from Paraje Altamira in the Uco Valley and Las Compuertas in Luján de Cuyo. Aged in French oak barrels, it’s purple in the glass with a garnet sheen. The nose reveals a well-judged approach to the warmth of 2020, featuring ripe plum, redcurrant, mint and hints of white pepper over a bed of bay leaf and cedar. It’s dry and velvety on the palate, with rich, polished tannins that deliver a juicy, balanced mouthfeel. The balsamic notes and rich palate reflect the year’s character, while the finish is dynamic and long-lasting.Vinous Media | 96 VMThis almost half-half Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec with 2% Petit Verdot is rich and full in the mouth. Tannins are massy and filling, this has power and dominance with concentrated blackcurrant, plum and black cherry fruit. Highly spiced and sunkissed, this is intense and quite a force on the palate with liquorice, black pepper and tobacco tones and a flinty mineral aspect on the finish. The alcohol sticks out a touch, just lingering with heat at the end, but it has freshness and matches the altogether hefty frame and power from start to finish. Certainly a punchy and confident wine that’s out to shine. 3.83pH. Ageing 22 months, 40% in 225l Bordeaux barrels, 405 in 400l barrels, 20% in 2,500l foudres (50% new). Winemaker Gérald Gabillet.Decanter | 95 DEC

The flagship from this great estate is the 2020 Châteauneuf Du Pape Boisrenard, which is based on 80% Grenache and small doses of 17 other varieties. This deeply hued beauty offers a stunning bouquet of blackberries, scorched earth, licorice, ground pepper, and sappy garrigue. I always find a Burgundian-like texture on this wine, and the 2020 is no exception – this is one to put into a blind tasting of Grand Cru Red Burgundies and shock your friends. Medium to full-bodied, ultra-pure, with grippy, sappy tannins, flawless balance, and a great finish, it’s pure class all the way. It’s going to need at least 4-6 years of bottle age, but this is a wine you don’t want to miss, and one of the finest wines I’ve tasted from this estate.Jeb Dunnuck | 99 JDFull and generous on the palate, no lack of fruit or depth here. Powerful and plentiful fine tannins and a great, rising sense of energy and freshness. Impressive, with real finesse and precision - no excess weight, but great surging intensity and freshness. Contains at least 1% of all the 18 possible varieties of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Grapes are grown across a variety of soil types in the lieux-dits Beau Renard, Cabrières and Coteau de l’Ange, vinified mostly in tronconic wooden vats, then aged in oak barrels of various sizes and ages, including 5% new oak. Drinking Window: 2023 - 2037Decanter | 96 DEC

Aromas of blackcurrants, black cherries, hints of graphite, wet earth, and lavender. Sandalwood. Full-bodied with an impressive and refined structure that runs deep and vertical in the wine. Chewy. Hints of chocolate and hazelnut at the end. Needs five or six years to soften.James Suckling | 98 JSAn excellent wine, even if not a great Dominus, the 2020 Dominus delivers waves of dark fruit—think predominantly cassis. A blend of 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc, it’s full-bodied and richly textured, perhaps a bit warm and open-knit because of the summer’s heat, but with a long, velvety finish attractively tinged with mocha and dark chocolate.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 95 RPThis throws off dense kirsch and linzer torte aromas and flavors, along with a mix of smoldering tobacco, leather, warm paving stone and licorice root hints that provide a brooding edge on the back end. Surprisingly backward for the vintage and impressively done. Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2026 through 2040. 1,600 cases made.Wine Spectator | 95 WS

Complex, with savory, spicy character, showing tobacco, salted plums, olives, black cherries, cassis and a hint of white pepper on the nose, followed by a refined, savory, balsamic accent. A full-bodied Seña with juicy fruit chiseling into the tight, extremely fine-grained tannins. Long, bright and still elegant from this warm vintage. 53% cabernet sauvignon, 25% malbec, 15% carmenere and 7% petit verdot. A wine with lots of harmony now, but better to drink from 2025.James Suckling | 98 JSThe 2020 Seña is a blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Malbec, 15% Carmenere and 7% Petit Verdot (a little higher in search of acidity) from grapes harvested early, the second week of March, and fermented mostly in stainless steel and 10% in concrete eggs. It has a moderate 13.5% alcohol and good freshness. It’s subtle and layered, not only fruit but with more spice; it has polished tannins and very integrated oak after 22 months in barrique, 78% new, and with 10% of the volume in large Stockinger barrels. The warmer years seem to be nicely managed, so that it’s not reflected in the ripeness but is more a matter of texture and quality of the tannins; in the warmer years, like 2017 or this 2019, the wines have a little more grip, but these are definitely finer than those from the 2017 vintage. This wine has intensity and complexity, with no mintiness or herbal notes; it’s spicy and juicy, with energy and depth. It has structure, color, stuffing and acidity to develop nicely in bottle. 100,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in February 2022.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 97 RPBeautiful fruit expression, clear and well defined, lovely texture, concentrated but smooth and round. This is full of sweet, juicy ripe fruits with a chalky, creamy texture underpinned by lifted acidity. It’s bold and clearly powerful with a depth of ripe blackcurrants, black cherries, plums and raspberries alongside notes of freshly-cut flowers, herbs and sweet spices; rosemary, violets and cinnamon. Tannins are fine and well integrated and this feels well worked with finesse. Beautifully expressive - I like the styling here, everything feels very polished and purposeful. 7% Petit Verdot completes the blend. Ageing 22 months in French oak barrels (78% new) and 10% foudres. Drinking Window: 2025 - 2043Decanter | 95 DECThe 2020 Seña was made in another warm, early-ripening year further complicated by the restrictions that came with the COVID pandemic, which hindered decision-making in the vineyard. A blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Malbec, 15% Carménère and 7% Petit Verdot, it was aged for 22 months, 90% in French barrels and the rest in foudres. A purplish garnet red, the intense, ripe nose presents notes of herb, blackcurrant and plum while in the mouth the rich balance gives a gentle boost channeled by firm but restrained tannins. Juicy and relaxed with nuanced flavor, it will improve in the bottle.Vinous Media | 94 VMSuave and polished, featuring flavors of floral currant and plum preserves, with a mineral underpinning and fresh acidity. Ends with loam and spice nuances and firm tannins. Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Carmenère and Petit Verdot. Drink now through 2032. 8,334 cases made,Wine Spectator | 92 WS

The 2021 Ornellaia captures all the magic of this sensational vintage on the Tuscan Coast. Rich, ample and expansive, with tremendous polish, the 2021 is pure class. Dark-toned fruit, mocha, espresso, licorice, plum and dried herbs abound. The tannins are present but also beautifully integrated, as is the French oak. There was a time not too long ago when young wines here needed years in bottle to drink well. That’s not at all the case with the 2021. The blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 7% Petit Verdot works so well. New oak was 70%.Vinous Media | 99 VMAromas of blackcurrants, iodine, crushed stone, hints of mint and sage. Blue fruits. Full-bodied with chewy tannins that open with air. It’s racy and very long. Very tannin driven and energetic with power and focus. Muscular and very toned. This is the best Ornellaia for the cellar in years. Try after 2030.James Suckling | 99 JSWhile the summer was hot and dry, with three months of drought, the vines’ roots were able to tap water reserves which had been topped up by rainfall the previous winter and spring. Despite the warm growing season, Ornellaia 2021 feels less dense and muscular than vintages of old, offering pretty floral and wild herb perfumes alongside ripe red and black fruit scents. It’s intense, fresh and vertical in character, with fine, ripe, round tannins that seem to be a trademark of the vintage – it’s a gorgeous, breezy iteration of the Bolgheri benchmark that is already drinking well. The blend is 53% Cabernet Sauvignon (up from 50% in 2020), 25% Merlot (down from 32%), 15% Cabernet Franc (up from 13%) and 7% Petit Verdot (up from 5%); a carefully considered response from the winemaking team to the increasingly warm summers in the region.Decanter | 97 DEC

Lastly, the 2021 The Bard checks in as 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Petit Verdot and Petite Sirah. This beauty has a killer bouquet of cassis, spring flowers, graphite, chalky minerality, and violets. This carries to a full-bodied, seamless, silky, flawlessly balanced effort revealing fine tannins, a good sense of freshness, and a thrilling finish.Jeb Dunnuck | 98 JDAfter 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.Decanter | 97 DECThe purity of fruit here is impressive with blackcurrants, bark and black mushrooms. Full-bodied but light-footed and fresh with integrated tannins that melt into the wine. Real transparency and focus. 83% cabernet sauvignon, 7% merlot, 6% cabernet franc, 3% petit verdot and 1% petite sirah. So drinkable but can age as well.James Suckling | 97 JSA blend of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot, and 1% Petite Sirah, the fruit for the 2021 The Bard comes from sites across the valley, including some estate fruit and some sourced fruit. Deep garnet-purple colored, it shoots from the glass with vibrant notions of crushed black currants, red currant jelly, black raspberries, and pencil shavings, giving way to notes of lilacs, dark chocolate, and a waft of spearmint. The full-bodied palate is firm with ripe, fine-grained tannins and a lively backbone framing the tightly wound red, black, and blue fruit flavors, finishing with great length and a real skip in its step.The Wine Independent | 97 TWIThe 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.Vinous Media | 95 VM

Blackcurrants and black cherries with lovely flowers on the nose. Medium-bodied with ultra fine tannins that give focus and tension to the wine. Pretty and poised. A little shy now. From organically grown grapes. Drink after 2027.James Suckling | 98 JS