The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon 5500 is 94% Cabernet Sauvignon and 6% Merlot bottled unfined and unfiltered after 18-20 months in oak. Futo practices long lees contact, five-day prefermentation cold soak and only one racking, which is when the barrels are racked directly into the tank prior to bottling. This is a stunning wine, and it was not easy to back off a perfect score, but maybe that will come with another several years of bottle age. The wine has profound intensity, amazing purity and clarity, an inky bluish/purple color, a stunning nose of spring flowers interwoven with crème de cassis, background charcoal, smoldering embers, and a full-bodied mouthfeel. It has an incredible lightness of being, despite its exceptional intensity and richness. This is an amazing wine and a great example of Stags Leap. It should drink well for 30+ years.

It's fascinating to taste Futo's new wine, the Futo 5500, which emerges from a hillside parcel in Stags Leap. The blue/black fruit is so typical of Stags Leap and totally distinct relative to the wines Futo makes in Oakville. Cinnamon, violets, licorice and melted road tar all burst from the glass in a rich, full-bodied wine full of personality. Vivid and totally alive in the glass, the 2012 impresses for its balance and sheer class.