2007 Futo Proprietary Red Wine
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Tasting notes
(61% cabernet sauvignon, 33% cabernet franc and 6% petit verdot): Very good saturated ruby-red. Superripe aromas of blueberry, currant, licorice and black tea, along with intriguing soil tones. For all its powerfully sweet blackberry, blueberry and spice flavors, this pungent wine shows excellent mineral and floral lift as it opens in the glass. Finishes with substantial tongue-clenching but sweet tannins and a late note of torrefaction. Winemaker emeritus Mark Aubert describes this as a drought-year wine.
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Robert Parker
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
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These proprietary reds are dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, and the 2007 is the finest wine yet produced at Futo. A blend of 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, a whopping 33% Cabernet Franc, and 6% Petit Verdot, it boasts a dense purple color as well as a gorgeously sweet bouquet of blue and black fruits, spring flowers, and crushed rocks, full-bodied power allied to compelling elegance, and a layered, multidimensional personality. There is plenty of depth in this beauty, and it is no doubt capable of putting on lots of weight and complexity given the Cabernet Franc component. Give it 3-4 years of cellaring, and drink it over the following 20-25 years. This small 12-acre vineyard on the western hillsides of Oakville has hit the ground running. Their debut release, 2004, has been followed by impressive wines in every subsequent vintage. Proprietor Tom Futo and winemaker Mark Aubert have quickly produced a thrilling group of wines. Sadly, only about 500 cases are produced currently, but the quantity should rise to 1,000 cases after the vineyard comes into full production. Tel. (707) 944-9333; Fax (707) 944-9334
(80% cabernet sauvignon, 10% cabernet franc and 10% petit verdot and merlot) Saturated medium ruby. Urgent aromas of crushed black raspberry, licorice and menthol. Superripe, plush and sweet, but with surprising clarity and an almost medicinal reserve to the very ripe, dense flavors of crushed black fruits. Nothing cooked about this big boy. Finishes with big, thoroughly buffered tannins, powerful structure and palate-saturating fruit. Winemaker Mark Aubert has thus far racked this wine only once, in January of 2008, and kept the lees in order to give the wine a creamier mouthfeel-or, as he put is, "to concentrate the wine via reduction." This has a significantly lower pH than the 2006: 3.8, vs. 4.0. Still, says Aubert, the 2007 growing season featured much more heat than 2006, and as in 2008 yields were small due to drought conditions. The Futo wine is aged in all new oak, 90% of which is heavy-toast Taransaud barriques