Christmas with Opus

On my many visits to California, and Napa Valley in particular, I had visited some amazing vineyards, met with some crazy owners and winemakers and to top it all tasted some exquisite juice. Some really fine wines that I have savoured over the years have been Cabernets produced by Midsummer Cellars, a wonderful Chardonnay by Wend Tyler, Bob Egelhoff's blend of Australian Shiraz and Napa Valley Cabernet called Two Worlds and others which I will mention by and by. But there was this one wine that I had always been eager to try but until tonight it had in many ways eluded me.

As far as appeal goes, it is one of the premium wines of California, a case of the first joint venture selling for $24,000 dollars at the first Napa Valley wine auction in 1981. This venture was put together by Baron Phillipe de Rothschild and Robert Mondavi after they had met for the first time in 1970. I had over the years thought that this would be another one of those wines that had inherited a big name (in this case two big names) and not only that, Opus One has a tremendous marketing machine behind it because of those two big names. Now with the umbrella of Constellation Bands above, the three names cannot get any bigger. So perhaps, it was just a case of judging a case of wine by it's heritage?

This Christmas evening though, there it was on the table standing tall next to the serving dish full of a plump turkey and some excellent stuffing. I was quite excited and at my first sip I was completely convinced. It is one of the top five Cabernets I have ever tasted. From France, Australia, Italy or California. Dark, a deep garnet with a tinge of violet in colour, the nose was quite difficult to fathom at first but gradually I got plum, cocoa and black fruit. And then as I took my first sip not really knowing what to expect, my tongue was transformed. The Opus One 2003 has tremendous depth, each sip is like a dark toast - to dark chocolate, liquorice and black, black berry. It is lush, concentrated, quite intense and will develop over the years into a powerhouse.

The finish is endless.

Varietals:

Cabernet Sauvignon 91%
Cabernet Franc 3%
Merlot 2%
Malbec 1%
Petit Verdot 3%

Barrel aging:

17 months in New French Oak