Realm Beckstoffer Dr. Crane 2018

Jeb DunnuckThe 2018 Beckstoffer Dr. Crane is gorgeous, offering classic 2018 purity in its blue fruits, cassis, chocolate, tobacco, cold fireplace, and loamy earth-like aromas and flavors. With full-bodied richness and depth, it has flawless balance, lots of building tannins, and a powerful, backward style that's going to benefit from bottle age. It doesn’t have that “je ne sais quoi” quality of the 2015 yet shares similarities with the 2016 given its purity and structure. Hide bottles for 4-5 years and enjoy over the following 25+.

Robert ParkerMade from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Dr Crane Vineyard displays an opaque purple-black color. It saunters confidently out of the glass with compelling notes of warm black plums, blackcurrant cordial, Morello cherries and black raspberries followed by an opulent perfume of exotic spices, dusty soil, rose oil and crushed rocks with a waft of sandalwood. Full-bodied, rich, seductive and so, so spicy, the palate possesses a multitude of savory, earth and preserved fruit layers, framed by an achingly beautiful velvety texture and seamless freshness, finishing long, long, long—truly showing off its latent power. Like a gorgeous intellectual, this is a wine that will absolutely turn heads and create a stir.

James SucklingLots of blackcurrant, blueberry, dark chocolate, burnt orange and licorice on the nose. Ink and tar, too. It’s full-bodied with rich, concentrated layers of fruit and spice and firm, smooth tannins. Drink from 2023.

VinousThe 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard is a classic Realm wine. Rich, sumptuous and opulent to the core, the 2018 hits all the right notes. Inky dark red/purplish fruit, espresso, lavender and rose petal build in a racy, flamboyant wine loaded with character. The 2018 takes all the Crane signatures and amplifies them, including the tannins, which will need a few years to settle down. There is a to like here.