Name: Opus One
Variety: Bordeaux Blend
Region: Napa
Valley, CA
Country: USA
Year: 2004
Price: Don’t want
to know (>$200 at least)
Shop/wine
critic/Winery Review: NOTE – This wine
review was done in 2007, it is 2013 now
Good full ruby. Roasted black raspberry, blackberry, spicecake, licorice,
minerals and nutty oak on the nose. Denser than the 2005 and a step up in
intensity but nicely light on its feet. There's lovely sweetness to the black
fruit and licorice flavors. Finishes with big but sweet tannins and a lingering
minerality. This makes the 2005 seem a bit dry by comparison. Bottled in July
of 2006, for the first time without being fined. (I continue to find the '03
too herbal, lean and dry to recommend. The '02 in March was less herbal and
minty than my sample two years ago but still high-toned, truffley and a bit
vegetal, with a note of black olive and a rather chunky texture. This rather
backward wine needs time but I find it disappointing in the context of the vintage,
rating 87+?. The wild, distinctly Old World 2001, on the other hand, was
wonderfully dense, sweet and lush without coming across as heavy, showing
complex notes of cassis, graphite, spicecake, leather and game; lovely
inner-mouth perfume; and an explosive finish featuring fine-grained, suave
tannins that reach the front teeth. This very sexy and showy wine, rated 91 in
Issue 118
My Review/Experience:
So this is going to be a little different than the other wine reviews I have
done. I am going to tell you about my
evening with Opus and not just want it tastes like!
Let’s start from the beginning… My dad had come home from an
RV (like motor home) trip from Florida.
Now he brought one of his friends along on the trip down so he didn’t
have to do it by himself. For my dad’s
friend, his contribution to the trip is to bring some very nice wine. Apparently he has some sweet wine collection
(that I haven’t seen… yet) and loves to share it with fellow wine drinkers
(cross your fingers). The two of them
had a 2003 Opus One but didn’t have time to drink the 2004. So my dad ended up bringing it home with him. When he got back, he decided to be an awesome
dad and open with just him, my mom and me at the house! Only way to spend the evening with the
parents.
First, I know the label on this bottle looks destroyed but
it still gets the point across. The
first thing I noticed while opening it was the foil lose, which mean it hadn’t
leaked around the cork which isn’t a good or bad sign it just meant it could
still breath. The problem came when I tried
to actually pull out the cork. With a not
so good crock screw, I managed to break it the first time (such a newbie). I got it out the second time but when I looked
at it I saw that it was VERY dry and hence it cracked. Just an interesting note, maybe reflective of
how old it is. Right as I opened this
bottle, I went ahead and took a sip. The
first thing I noticed was the color. It
was a true ruby red with dark tones from all the skins. When I smelled the wine I got hints of
blackberry, slight spice and actually got hints of cedar on it. This lent its hands to the earthy, mineral
tones of the wine. The taste was very,
very smooth and had a wonderful mid-pallet.
It had a little hint of spice right after you swallowed it but faded as
you let it sit. It was complex with
heavy tannins but just fantastic. The
finish was very strong and you could definitely feel the 14.5% alcohol still
going on.
We then let it sit for about 45 minutes in the bottle just
to let it breathe. We then all had a
glass at dinner which consisted of three cheese tortellini, Italian sausage and
garlic bread. The taste did open up
after this time but I think it tasted best right after having some of the
tortellini. The cheese took away the
tannins in the wine and really let you with just the fruit complexity. It really just took the edge off the
wine. As I got into the third small
glass (taking my time with it), I started to really notice the alcohol. While I was impressed that I didn’t get the ‘burning’
sensation in my mouth (sign of a very good winemaker), I did start to feel it
down my throat. Felt like you just came
in from skiing and are having hot chocolate and you feel it warming you up from
the inside out that was how the alcohol hit.
After we finished dinner, I poured myself the final glass
(sad). I took a couple sips but I decided
that it just needed more time to breathe.
I left it out for at least another hour and wow. It totally opened up, it smoothed out, the
alcohol started to evaporate off, and it just got better. Those last couple sips were just
amazing. After I finished it, while sad I
did learn something. A wine like that
needs to decant, for a couple of hours. Even
though it was aged for 9 years, it could have sat in a decanter for another 3
that day and it would have been amazing.
After a wine like that, you really start to realize why wine can be so
expensive.
I know this was pretty long but I hope you learned something
about it! Maybe one day you will get
this chance to try either an Opus One, or just one of the high quality wines
out there. A final shout out to my dad’s
friend, Don, for buying this bottle and saving it for us to enjoy! Thanks for being a wino!
Once I got
back to school on Friday, I did some shopping and got an AMAZING surprise from
my other half. He got me a Pandora bracelet
with two beads on it!! He totally
surprised me and I was not expecting it at all. I give him a lot of credit, even though I give
him a hard time a lot (especially if one of us I out of town), there is no one
else I would rather be with!! We then
did some usual wine tastings at the Vintage Cellar (this one was very good) and
went to a local winery. And by winery I mean
they have a little tasting room in downtown so we went there to test it
out. We actually quite liked there wines
and once it gets nicer I think I will drag the other half to their winery about
30 minutes away (then I will blog on that).
Then Sunday hit and now it is back to the final push of school work
before graduation!
