This, he added, created a slight but beneficial degree of stress. At Opus One, Mr Silacci says, they found that the vines’ roots could be made to go deeper by “increasing the intervals between irrigations and by increasing the volume of each irrigation”. But there are different approaches to it. Irrigation is allowed in California, where precipitation follows a different pattern from most of Europe. (As Christian Moueix once said to me – about the ‘88 clarets – “you can’t make great wines without great grapes”). The estate’s main tenets are that “grape quality determines wine quality and pruning determines grape quality”. Michael Silacci is an unassuming, scholarly-Iooking man with square shoulders (and jaw) and dark-rimmed spectacles. The Grand Chai - Opus One maturing in the wood. One can imagine that quite a bit of “promotion” preceded the sale – the current price for the wine is around $300 the bottle. Two years later a case of that vintage was sold at auction for US$ 24,000 – reportedly the highest price ever paid for a California wine. The first fruit of the project was the 1979 Opus One, which predictably attracted worldwide attention. Opus One was jointly launched in the late 1970s by P hilippe de Rothschild, proprietor of Mouton-Rothschild in Pauillac, and Robert Mondavi, pioneer wine maker in the Napa Valley. He adopted his present career in 1978, when “I fell in love with wine and two-hour lunches!” The holder of a master’s degree in viticulture from the University of California, Davis, he has made wines in Oregon, France, and Chile and closer to home was for six years wine-maker at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, also in California. Including the 1979, the very first vintage, the eight wines were personally chosen by Michael Silacci, who has been in charge of wine-making since 2004. Drink or hold.A tasting of eight of the best-ever vintages of Opus One, California’s most celebrated red wine, was recently hosted in London by the Masters of Wine. Medium-to full-bodied, round and savory with creamy, juicy tannins. James Suckling scored this 95 points saying "Lots of currant and floral notes on the nose. Medium-bodied, the palate has a lively skip in its step, featuring bags of juicy raspberry and cassis-laced fruit and a refreshing line, supported by ripe, plush tannins, finishing long and graceful." ![]() Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, it slowly grows on the nose, revealing compelling notes of baked black cherries, mulberries, black raspberries, warm cassis and blackberry pie with nuances of spice cake, yeast extract, tapenade, licorice and dusty soil with a waft of wild sage. The 2017 Opus One, bottled in July 2019, is a blend of 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8.5% Petit Verdot, 5% Cabernet Franc, 4.5% Merlot and 1% Malbec. The Wine Advocate scored this 95 points saying "Opus One had picked 91% of their fruit before the fires started in 2017, and only two lots were eliminated from consideration. Harvest spread out over September 5 to October 8, just before the fires, by which time they had less than 10% of the fruit still out on the vines. 5% Merlot and 1% Malbec complete the blend. 54% native yeast, as part of their native yeast project. 20 days maceration - around half what it would have been a decade ago. As the wine stays in the glass the floral aromatics begin to bloom up. Beautiful grip, creamy texture with a strikingly powerful tannic frame. EXTREMLY LIMITED!!!ĭecanter Magazine scored this 96 points saying "A fist of late summer cherries, raspberry and bilberry fruits set out their stall, all with the juicy character that confirms, even in a hot vintage like 2017, Opus can deliver balance and sculpted elegance. This 2016 is another extraordinary Bordeaux blend from Napa Valley. ![]() Half Bottle 375ml The joint venture that started it all between Baron Philippe de Rothschild and Robert Mondavi.
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