Last Friday we had another in a long, long line of amazing wine dinners when we hosted Tom Futo from Oakville’s Futo Winery for a memorable night of wine, food and good friends! Ivan the Fiver has long sang the praises of this great winery and I have had the distinct pleasure of drinking through almost every vintage of this great wine! We had a nice group of California Cab lovers together to taste through 5 great wines from Futo. Mark Aubert was the founding winemaker at Futo so we used his Chardonnay for the dinner as well. These were the wines for night:
2013 Aubert Chardonnay Hyde & Sons Vineyard
2011 Futo O.V.
2012 Futo OV|SL
2006 Futo Oakville Estate Red
2011 Futo Oakville Estate Red
2012 Futo Oakville Estate Red
Futo is located in the southwestern Oakville bench right off of the Oakville Grade. You could not paint a more perfectly manicured vineyard or winery! The winery to the North is Harlan. To the East is Martha’s Vineyard. Sandwiched between those in Vine Hill Ranch-the source of Bond’s Vecina. Heck, above it further up the mountain is Harlan’s new Promentory label and the Tusk Estate. If I could one part of Napa that is might favorite to drink from-this is probably it. The 2013 Aubert was righteous and layered with tropical fruit, lemon bar, cream, toasted bread and nice oak spice. The 2011 Futo OV was spectacular and showed it Cab Franc aromatic complexity in spades! Just like the Estate 2011, this wine was more Bordelais in style with more tannic structure than the 2012s. The OV was drinking great today and was the best deal on the table with notes of espresso, mocha, red plums, sweet spices, licorice and rose petals. It will develop even more over the next few years. The 2012 Futo OV|SL basically tastes like young Mouton. It is so smooth, complex, sweet and savory and loaded with notes of red currant, cassis, pencil lead, gravel, tobacco, cinnamon, and cloves. It drank wonderfully the entire night! Now onto the big boy Futos! The 2006 Futo was drinking in a perfect place right now with ripe red and black fruit, some secondary damp earth, leather and black licorice flavors. The tannins were perfectly ripe and the wine was a delight to drink! The 2011 Futo tastes like great St Estephe with layer upon layer of tannins, great structure, black currant, camphor, cassis, sweet tobacco, incense, and crushed mulberries. A wine to lay down for 10 years to truly let the wine evolve. The best wine made in Napa in 2011 and slightly cheaper than the 2012:) Stock Up! We finished with the 2012 Futo and this most closely resembled the stellar 2007 vintage for me. Forward and layered with ripe blueberries, mulberries, and blackberries with licorice, incense and vanillin in the background. I loved it but preferred the 2011 personally… I know I will be in the minority there though based on crowd participation:) It was a great night had by all and these Futo wines belong in the cellars of any self-proclaimed Cali Cab devotees out there. Bravo!
We spilled out into the front room afterwards and had the following great wines:
NV Jacquesson Cuvee no. 737
2013 Aubert Ritchie Vineyard Chardonnay
2011 Kosta Browne Russian River Pinot Noir
1995 Turley Petite Sirah Aida Vineyard
1985 Eyrie Vineyards Pinot Noir South Slope Reserve
1975 Mouton Rothschild
1988 Cos d’Estournel
1989 Cos d’Estournel
1989 Pichon Lalande
2012 Chapoutier La Morderee Cote Rotie
2009 Favia Cerro Sur
2009 Jones Family Cabernet Sauvignon
1998 Colgin Herb Lamb Cab
2007 Valdicava Brunello di Montalcino
2011 Morlet Passionnement Cab