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:
92 points — James Suckling (May 2014)
Very aromatic and pretty, with plum, cherry and currant aromas plus hints of chocolate. Full-bodied, with soft, silky tannins and a clean, fresh finish — a subtly fruity, juicy red with a pretty texture. Drink or hold, and made for early drinking.
92+ points — Vinous (November 2013)
Galloni suggests the 2011 may turn out to be one of the surprises of the year — a brilliant, precise wine that impresses above all for its energy. Sweet floral and spiced notes lead to expressive dark red berries, mocha, anise and new leather. He points readers to the lower-than-normal proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend, typical of a year in which the blender’s hand matters most.
90 points — International Wine Cellar (June 2014)
Deep ruby-red, with rather cool aromas of plum syrup, cocoa powder, liquorice and fresh herbs. Spicier and leaner than the young 2012, with a strong impression of acidity and an herbal element lending a tart quality to the blackberry, graphite and leather flavours. The finish is brisk but a touch sour, with some spiky acidity and lingering pepper and herb notes.
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.
2011 followed the blockbuster 2010 and could hardly have been more different. Cool, wet weather made richness impossible, and the vintage rewarded growers who accepted its terms rather than fighting them. The blend here is 71% Cabernet Sauvignon with 11% Merlot, 9% Petit Verdot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 1% Malbec — the lowest proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon in any Opus One bottling, and a direct reflection of a year in which blending carried the wine. The result smells and feels closer to classic Bordeaux than to Napa: plum, cherry, currant, dark red berries, cocoa, mocha, anise, liquorice, new leather and graphite, lifted by fresh herbs. It is aromatic and precise rather than opulent, full-bodied with soft, silky tannins, and built on energy and acidity. Showing well now.
Bottle Size:
750 mL
Storage History:
Always stored on its side in a climate-controlled cellar.
Condition:
Please note: The bottle shown is the exact bottle being sold.
Outstanding condition.
