Coming on the heels of an impressive but small 2021 crop, 2022 was tracking to be a relatively effortless vintage for Napa Valley until Mother Nature decided to throw growers a heatwave curve ball during the first week of September. Many winemakers were able to bring in some fruit before and during this heat event, but a significant portion of the Bordeaux varieties were not ripe at this stage. Most Napa vintners would need to ride the potentially devastating wave for a proportion of their crop. Fortunately, similarly timed heatwaves had occurred in 2017 and 2020, so evasive maneuvers were ready to be deployed.

As the early September heatwave approached, the two major choices were stark: 1) Pick what was ripe or close to ripe before and during the heatwave, or 2) Ride the heatwave out with whatever irrigation, shade cloth, and mister strategies you had. Knowing this, I expect to see some under-ripe 2022 Napa Cabernet expressions on one end of the spectrum, and some desiccated fruit and VA-stripped train wrecks at the other. This said, Realm did a really great job of toning down the possible deleterious aftermath of both major harvest options.

"One of the big saviors in 2022 was having the extra tank space at Nine Suns (the winery on Pritchard Hill purchased by Realm in June 2022)," Scott pointed out. "We had to harvest quickly, and being able to process everything as it was coming in was a real advantage."

“We pulled in what we could before the heatwave,” said Benoit. “We wanted to capture more crunchy fruit and tension for the Merlot. By September 5th, the peak of the heat, we had all the Merlot in.”

The Tempest, mostly Merlot, is a lovely surprise in 2022. Merlot has a broader ripening spectrum than Cabernet and very little tolerance for extreme heat, so most, including Realm, brought their Merlots in before the heatwave. I love this 2022 brighter, fresher Tempest (maybe even prefer it?). The other big, pleasant surprise is Dr. Crane Vineyard. Benoit chose to harvest this before the heat, which was a brave move. I find him to be one of Dr. Crane’s most skilled crafters, and he really pulled this 2022 off. It’s a more elegant, shimmery wine—so counterintuitive to the vintage—and similar in style to what Sam Kaplan does with Dr. Crane for Memento Mori. 

"Houyi Vineyard, we also picked early," said Benoit. "We saw what was happening, and it was like, ‘Just go, go, go!’ We picked from September 2nd onwards, same as Dr. Crane."

The heat hit hard on Pritchard Hill, and so Houyi was picked through the heatwave. This vineyard needed a lot of selection—nearly 30% of the fruit was discarded. It’s an excellent wine, given the circumstances.

To Kalon came in not long after the heatwave. Andy Beckstoffer’s crew did an amazing job getting this vineyard through the storm. I’ve now tasted a few different To Kalon 2022s made by other wineries, and they are also impressive. 

“The vineyards that were most sensitive to the heat were those that were closest to being ready,” said Benoit. “Farella wasn’t close to ripe, so we let it hang. The fruit that was further behind did better than the fruit right on the ripeness line. After the heatwave, we went through and cleaned up the vineyard by clipping away the raisins. We also had to go through and inspect the vines to figure out if the vine was finished or if it was still progressing after the heat. If the vine isn’t functioning, you have to pick.”

Farella Vineyard (Coombsville) and the Stags Leap District vineyards (Moonracer and Hartwell XX) weren’t ready when the heat hit and rode the wave. Again, there was a lot of selection here, but the wines are not that far off 2021 in terms of quality and fruit style. The big difference is the structure. 2021 is a more structured vintage—more acidity and tannins (and riper tannins)—and the 2021 wines will be longer lived than their 2022 counterparts.

Meanwhile, The Bard and Absurd are delicious uber-blends that don’t miss a beat.

"We did a lot more aging in concrete in 2022 to maintain the brightness," said Benoit.

I asked Benoit if he back blended the 2022s with the 2023 vintage, which is permitted in Napa up to 5%.

“We used a little 2023 in some of the blends,” he said. “But it was a very different animal, so we couldn’t use too much. We wound up using 2 or 3% at most, even though we could have gone up to 5%.”

Those interested in reading more about the history of Realm can refer to the Realm Story published last year.

For more information about the 2022 vintage in Napa Valley, head over to the 2022 Vintage Preliminary Report we published last year.