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Tasting Notes
95+ points. The 2014 Opus One has turned out to be a gorgeous wine. Savory, tightly wound and intensely aromatic, the 2014 is going to need time to unwind, but it looks like it will develop along the more classic vintages here. The tannins are firm but also impeccably balanced. A sleeper wine for the year, the 2014 is shaping up to be a gorgeous wine that will handsomely repay several decades of cellaring. The 2014 is not an obvious Opus One, like the 2010, 2012 or 2013, but over time, I will not be surprised if it challenges or even surpasses some of those vintages. In short, the 2014 is a wine of tension, power and grace. Dec 2016, www.vinous.com, Drink: 2024-2044
Critic Scores
Average Score
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
James Suckling
More reviews and scores
Mesmerizing aromas of flowers, bark, currants and blackberries. So perfumed. You just want to smell it. Exquisite tension and finesse with an almost Burgundian texture, yet it’s Napa in its soul with ripe fruit, stones, spices and Chinese tea leaf flavors. Savory and delicious. Drinkable but better in 2020. Available on October 2017. Jun 2017, www.jamessuckling.com
17+ points. 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Petit Verdot, 6% Cabernet Franc, 5% Merlot, 2% Malbec. Aged for 18 months in new French barriques. Savoury nose. Very lifted and almost leafy - very far from a fruit bomb. Very much a food wine. Very, very different from wine bar syrup. Not obviously high alcohol. After pretty ripe cassis some black olive flavours dominate. Rather bordeaux-like build but with a richer finish than a bordeaux would have. Obviously there's a fair amount of tannin here but it's well handled and dominated by the fruit. Good peacock's tail finish. I could imagine some Americans asking 'where's the beef (stew)?' but this should definitely appeal to (well heeled) Europeans. Aug 2017, www.jancisrobinson.com, Drink: 2017-2033
Blended of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc, 6% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot and 2% Malbec, the Opus One 2014 Proprietary Red Wine sports an inky purple color and nose of crushed black and red currants, black cherries and mulberries with touches of underbrush, sauteed herbs and pencil shavings plus a waft of spice box. Medium-bodied, finely crafted and with an energetic line lifting the red and black fruits, it has a bold frame of grainy tannins and a very long, earth and spice-layered finish. Oct 2017, www.robertparker.com
About the producer
Opus One is arguably Napa's most famous winery. It was established in 1979 as a joint venture between Baron Philippe de Rothschild (of Bordeaux First Growth Ch. Mouton Rothschild) and Robert Mondavi, conceived after the two met holidaying in Hawaii in the early ’70s.