This ripe and fulsome Cabernet blend has lasted longer than I expected when I tasted it five years ago (4/17 - 94 points), though it still needs at least two hours to open up. I tasted this next to a 2007 Futo tonight, with the more recent vintage having far more life. In contrast, the 2006 seemed more bass than treble (read: more ripe, less fresh).
Dark purple in color and full in body, the wine offers aromas of blackberry, leather, and anise. Flavors of boysenberry, mocha, and mulberry, with a round and layered finish. Blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, and 5% Cab Franc. 15.6% alcohol. It's cliche to say that a producer recently shows more "restraint," but it's true here - Futo's 2010, 2012, and later vintages are more dialed in and fresh (though they just might be younger). 93-94 at the moment. Drink now.
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Pop and pour. Relaxed and full palate of soft Oakville fruit. Everything is integrated and delicious and I don't see any reason to wait on this vintage much longer. Drink over the next few years.
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2+ hour decant. Blackberries, almost jammy, mocha, some heat, black currant, sweet Oak. A high quality wine, but the alcohol took it down a point for me.
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Mini vertical of Futo wines (06, 07 and 09). All wines were slow oxidized (cork removed for 2-3 hours) and the 07 and 09 received an additional couple hours in a decanter, with the 06 receiving around 30 minutes prior to the initial pour. Some in the group thought this wine was corked. My palate is not as sensitive to slight cork as others, and I would have said this wine was not corked at all. I did not get anything indicating cork on the nose, nor on the palate. Having said that though, this was my least favorite of the three. The fruit seemed faded and continued to fade throughout the night. While the wine showed integration and arguably secondary or tertiary notes, I need a healthy dose of primary notes and flavors to truly enjoy a wine. This wine was perhaps the most complex, in terms of bouquet and flavor, but for me, the lack of fruit or primary flavor takes this wine down a notch. With more fruit, this wine would have shown much better (maybe the lack of fruit was due to slight corking, or due to the age-ability of the wine. Whatever the reason, I found this enjoyable, but a distant third in the flight. Like the other wines, it lacked QPR (even more so than the other vintages). A good, solid wine, but my least favorite of the three.
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8/27/2022 - Topper wrote: 89 Points
Didn’t love this. Found it solid but overly ripe, tannic and alcoholic. Wouldn’t buy this again.
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3/2/2022 - msuwine wrote: 94 Points
This ripe and fulsome Cabernet blend has lasted longer than I expected when I tasted it five years ago (4/17 - 94 points), though it still needs at least two hours to open up. I tasted this next to a 2007 Futo tonight, with the more recent vintage having far more life. In contrast, the 2006 seemed more bass than treble (read: more ripe, less fresh).
Dark purple in color and full in body, the wine offers aromas of blackberry, leather, and anise. Flavors of boysenberry, mocha, and mulberry, with a round and layered finish. Blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, and 5% Cab Franc. 15.6% alcohol. It's cliche to say that a producer recently shows more "restraint," but it's true here - Futo's 2010, 2012, and later vintages are more dialed in and fresh (though they just might be younger). 93-94 at the moment. Drink now.
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11/23/2019 - Quiet Lion Likes this wine: 94 Points
Pop and pour. Relaxed and full palate of soft Oakville fruit. Everything is integrated and delicious and I don't see any reason to wait on this vintage much longer. Drink over the next few years.
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6/2/2019 - mxpbuy Likes this wine: 92 Points
2+ hour decant. Blackberries, almost jammy, mocha, some heat, black currant, sweet Oak. A high quality wine, but the alcohol took it down a point for me.
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11/22/2018 - For the Love of Wine Likes this wine: 90 Points
Mini vertical of Futo wines (06, 07 and 09). All wines were slow oxidized (cork removed for 2-3 hours) and the 07 and 09 received an additional couple hours in a decanter, with the 06 receiving around 30 minutes prior to the initial pour. Some in the group thought this wine was corked. My palate is not as sensitive to slight cork as others, and I would have said this wine was not corked at all. I did not get anything indicating cork on the nose, nor on the palate. Having said that though, this was my least favorite of the three. The fruit seemed faded and continued to fade throughout the night. While the wine showed integration and arguably secondary or tertiary notes, I need a healthy dose of primary notes and flavors to truly enjoy a wine. This wine was perhaps the most complex, in terms of bouquet and flavor, but for me, the lack of fruit or primary flavor takes this wine down a notch. With more fruit, this wine would have shown much better (maybe the lack of fruit was due to slight corking, or due to the age-ability of the wine. Whatever the reason, I found this enjoyable, but a distant third in the flight. Like the other wines, it lacked QPR (even more so than the other vintages). A good, solid wine, but my least favorite of the three.
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