Winemaker Notes
A wine that has an aura, the 2013 FUTO grabs your attention. Incense, lavender, fresh blackberry aromatics are saturating, and constantly change in the glass. The fireworks continue on the palate: as the fruit shimmers between purple and red tinge, allied to deep background echoes of winter savory. The combo of ample suave tannin, purity, and complexity of flavor promise decades of positive evolution. 59% CABERNET SAUVIGNON, 35% CABERNET FRANC, 6% PETIT VERDOT.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
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.
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James Suckling
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.
Undoubtedly proving its merit over and over, Napa Valley is a now a leading force in the world of prestigious red wine regions. Though Cabernet Sauvignon dominates Napa Valley, other red varieties certainly thrive here. Important but often overlooked include Merlot and other Bordeaux varieties well-regarded on their own as well as for their blending capacities. Very old vine Zinfandel represents an important historical stronghold for the region and Pinot noir is produced in the cooler southern parts, close to the San Pablo Bay.
Perfectly situated running north to south, the valley acts as a corridor, pulling cool, moist air up from the San Pablo Bay in the evenings during the hot days of the growing season, which leads to even and slow grape ripening. Furthermore the valley claims over 100 soil variations including layers of volcanic, gravel, sand and silt—a combination excellent for world-class red wine production.