2013 Futo Oakville Estate

From the original Oakville estate, the 2013 Proprietary Red (which spends most of its time in T-5 Taransaud as well as Darnajou new oak) is a blend of 59% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Cabernet Franc and 6% Petit Verdot. It is a magnificent wine, tasting like a Pauillac from Oakville. The wine has notes of cedar wood, fruitcake, graphite, incense and charcoal embers interwoven with blackberry, cassis and unsmoked cigar tobacco. Full-bodied and multi-layered, with exceptional purity and depth, its great intensity and richness make this a prodigious effort that should drink well for 30 or more years.

The 2013 Futo is the most reticent of the 2013s I tasted on my most recent visit. Given the high amount of Cabernet Franc here and how well all the other wines showed, I imagine that it is just a function of where the 2013 is at this point in time. Still very tightly wound, the 2013 is going to need a few more years in bottle. I wouldn't plan on touching a bottle any time soon.

What a gorgeous wine with blackberry, black currant, blueberry, and pine needles. Complex savory undertones. Sweet tobacco. Mushroom. Full body, ultra-fine tannins. It goes on for minutes. This really has purity and refinement.