Our Provenance Guarantee
Purchase with confidence. All of our wines are selectively sourced and thoroughly inspected for authenticity and signs of poor storage. Accepted bottles are preserved in our climate-controlled cellar until they reach your doorstep. We have no storefront and no walk-in traffic, so nothing is moved or handled between inspection and shipping.
The bottle you see photographed is the bottle you receive (or fundamentally identical when multiple bottles are listed), and our commitment to you is that it arrives as represented. If it doesn’t, we want to hear from you.
Ratings & Tasting Notes:
93 points — Vinous (Antonio Galloni, June 2013)
Savoury herbs, mint, liquorice and plums are woven together in a fabric of notable class. Galloni finds it still young and vibrant, an excellent choice for drinking over the following decade, and calls the focus, length and persistence super-impressive, especially within the context of a challenging vintage. He gives the blend as 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc, 5% Merlot, 1% Malbec and 1% Petit Verdot.
92 points — Decanter (Jane Anson, September 2019)
Anson notes a difficult year, with rain through the growing season extending ripening into late October. The wine lacks the grip and definition of stronger vintages, but she finds a supple charm, with clear hedgerow and bramble notes and a sweet caramel edge to the oak. It drops off at the end, though the appeal is real. She records 36 days of skin contact and a long, slow ripening in this El Niño year.
90 points — The Wine Independent (June 2024)
Medium to deep garnet-brick in colour, bursting with evolved notes of prunes, dried cherries and stewed rhubarb, followed by hints of crushed rocks, bay leaves and tobacco plus a touch of wild fungi. The medium-bodied palate reveals a wine at its peak, with just enough remaining fruit and a chewy texture, finishing with an herbal lift.
Cult Wines International Notes:
Opus One was founded in 1979 as a joint venture between Robert Mondavi and Baron Philippe de Rothschild of Château Mouton Rothschild — a deliberate marriage of Napa Valley fruit and Bordeaux winemaking, and the first venture of its kind between a California estate and a First Growth. The partnership produced a single wine from the outset, drawing on estate parcels in the western reaches of the Oakville AVA, and released its inaugural 1979 vintage in 1984. More than four decades on, Opus One remains the reference point for the Napa Bordeaux blend and one of the few California labels traded internationally as a blue chip.
1998 was an El Niño year in Napa, and a demanding one. Winter flooding delayed the season, rain fell through the growing period, and ripening stretched into late October — a long, slow finish that salvaged the vintage for those with the patience to wait. The blend is 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc, 5% Merlot, 1% Malbec and 1% Petit Verdot, with 36 days of skin contact. The wine is medium to deep garnet-brick and fully evolved: prunes, dried cherries, plums, stewed rhubarb and bramble over savoury herbs, mint, liquorice, bay leaf, tobacco, crushed rock, wild fungi and a sweet caramel edge of oak. Medium-bodied, supple and chewy in texture, with an herbal lift to the finish. This is Opus in its lean, savoury register rather than its opulent one, and at twenty-eight years it is drinking at its peak.
Bottle Size:
750 mL
Storage History:
Always stored on its side in a climate-controlled cellar.
Condition:
Outstanding condition.
Please note: The condition of the bottle you will receive is accurately reflected by the one shown in the images.
