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Tasting Notes
Ch. Mouton Rothschild’s iconic Napa red is the perfect recipe of restrained, Bordeaux-styled Cabernet, with Napa’s purity of fruit. From a hugely successful vintage, the 2019 Opus One comes largely from Napa’s top vineyard To Kalon (representing 96% of the blend). The wine has a beautiful, delicately scented nose – floral tones mingle with peppery spice and there is an added herbal lift too. The palate is very smooth, with fine tannins. Though medium-bodied, it has deceptive concentration of fruit and tannin. Flavours of black forest gâteau, milk chocolate and black cherry, with sweeter blueberry pie notes fill the palate along with classic Cabernet cassis. The oak is beautifully balanced bringing lovely charry, cigar notes that sustain the long finish. This has a lovely trajectory on the palate and is set to age beautifully.
Critic Scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
The purity of fruit is really something else here, with currants and fresh flowers, such as violets and roses. Flower stems as well. Fantastic length and structure to the wine, with tightness and focus. Wonderful fruit. Graceful. A blend of 78% cabernet sauvignon, 8% merlot, 7% petit verdot, 6% cabernet franc and 1% malbec. Try after 2028.
The 2019 Opus One is a dense, beautifully layered wine, but it is also quite restrained. That should serve it well in time. Tasted next to the 2018, the 2019 possesses a bit more textural nuance and body, yet it has all the classicism that is such an Opus One signature. Bright floral accents linger on the sublime finish.
Winemaker Michael Silacci commented that usually the blends are finished in January or February after the vintage. This year, with the 2019s, he was still tweaking the blend, but he did mention that this is "pretty close to the final blend." Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2019 Opus One leaps from the glass with notes of Black Forest cake, Morello cherries, mulberries and fresh blackcurrants plus hints of licorice, wilted roses, Sichuan pepper and iron ore. Full-bodied, the palate is jam-packed with juicy black, blue and red fruits, framed by velvety tannins and background freshness, finishing on a compelling earthy/mineral note. Tasted as a barrel sample, this is a truly magnificent Opus One in the making!
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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.