x
  • Country ranking ?

    67
  • Producer ranking ?

    4
  • Decanting time

    3h
  • When to drink

    from 2030
  • Food Pairing

    rack of lamb

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The Story

Moonracer is Realm’s Estate wine from our SLD Estate Vineyard on Wappo Hill in the Stags Leap District. It is said this elevated site was important to the Wappo Native Americans as it provided the tribe with a central lookout from which to identify intruders and such. The Wappos, though small in number, were known for their bravery, strength and athleticism. Author Jack London, writing about the curious inter-tribal races that took place during full moons, noted that the Wappos often won these contests. Thus Moonracer, an oblique reference to the earliest inhabitants of the place Realm calls home.

 

The Cabernet Sauvignon-based Moonracer is composed of the finest lots from the Estate vineyard. Winemaker Benoit Touquette has much to choose from, as the site, with its multiple blocks, elevations, facings and diverse soils, has character in spades. Moonracer bears the unmistakable mark of this stimulating vineyard as well as the Stags Leap District. The wine is strong and powerful yet elegant, with refined tannins and plenty of depth. What Benoit calls “intellectual.” It’s a wine that will appeal to both international and American palates. It walks the line, combining characteristics typical of northern and southern Napa Valley. It’s got plenty of fruit but also layered flavors, depth and complexity.

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Latest Pro-tasting notes

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Written Notes

From the Realm Estate in Stags Leap, the 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Moonracer is an elegant, sophisticated Cabernet that shows the nuanced side of Stags Leap in its red-toned fruit profile, floral aromatics and mid-weight structure. I would give the 2019 at least a few years in the bottle. There is a certain approachability to the 2019, but ultimately I think that might be a bit deceptive relative to the wine's ultimate potential.

  • 97p
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Information

Origin

Napa , Napa Valley

Inside Information

The Name
Our Estate is situated on the southeast flank of Wappo Hill, and the name Moonracer – Realm’s first Estate wine - sprung up as a result of research we did into the customs of the Wappo Native Americans who first inhabited this area. From the writings of Jack London, we learned that area tribes would often compete in various sporting events, including “moon races,” which were long foot races conducted during the light of the full moon. In one such race, it is said the competitors could see the moon at seven different points through the peaks of the Mayacamas Mountains to the west. 

The Label
We met Spanish artist Sergio Albiac through a good friend and customer. Sergio works with computer codes and programming to create unique pieces of art. On his website he says: “I write computer programs that transform reality to express ideas about identity, beauty, chance and human emotions.” We admired Sergio’s work - it’s striking, modern and abstract - and we thought it would play well on a wine label. 

We told Sergio about Realm and Moonracer and the name’s derivation from the Wappos. Sergio pointed out that Native Americans blended art, science and nature throughout their lives as a means of survival and pleasure. Winemakers, he said, do the same thing: there’s an artistic, scientific and natural component to what we do. Sergio wanted to develop a label that would incorporate these three components.

He developed an algorithm using data Benoit provided from weather stations on the Estate, including temperature, wind and solar radiation throughout the 2014 growing season (the first vintage of Moonracer). He inserted the data into the algorithm, and the computer was able to “read” the information and produce abstract images. What’s cool, though, is that there was enough data to create a unique label for each bottle of wine. So each label is different. All 4800 labels. It’s all the same code, so there’s a familial feel to them, but they’re different images. On the bottom, each label is stamped with the date and the data from which that label was created.

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