Rob's "Wine of the Week" Archives
So here is my wine review for the week of July 28th...
FUTO OAKVILLE 2005
Description: Recently named one of Wine Spectator Magazine’s “highly recommended” wines with a score of 96 out of 100, Futo is the latest in a long line of small, family owned Napa Valley wineries that is producing uber-high-end red wines with a large price tag to match. In this case, the Futo is a cabernet blend, made up of 100% cabernet grapes from 5 different estate vineyards. As best as I can gather, this one wine is all they make.
How and when I drank it: Sunday afternoon, July 20th at my house.
How to get it: The winery sells it exclusively via their mailing list, which you can sign up for via their website. This has also become very nouveau in Napa Valley in recent years, making wines harder to find and enjoy. The website fails to indicate whether or not any restaurants or wine merchants carry their wine.
How Much: The winery sells it for $200 per bottle
My Thoughts: I suppose that if I had acquired my love of Napa reds less than 5 years ago, I wouldn’t be so hard on these super-high-end wines. Novices to wine simply accept triple digit price tags for boutique wines. Those of us who have been doing this for a while know that great wines can be found for less than $100, and if a winery is going to ask more than that, they better make an incredible wine (think; Insignia). The most egregious example of this phenomenon remains Opus One, the most overrated wine in Napa Valley history and not worth half its’ asking price.
The Futo, however, is a very impressive wine. Asking $200 for it ballsy, but understood in today’s economic wine climate. The wine is a classic, huge, perfectly blended Napa cab that exudes glorious flavors ranging from dark berry to light oak to some perfectly tamed mineral/earth flavors that lend themselves to a tremendous finish.
Overall Score: My scoring system has always been based on quality versus value. In order to get a perfect score of 5 vines, the wine’s quality must exceed the value of the price tag. Thus, if a $40 bottle of wine delivers quality equal to a $150 bottle, it’s the $40 bottle that scores 5 vines.
In this case, we have a tremendous wine asking a more than steep price. The truth of the matter is that you don’t have to pay this much for such a great wine, but when you do it’s worth every sip. For a truly special occasion, this is a wine worth having and savoring every sip.
4 vines
FUTO OAKVILLE 2005 = 
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