Lots of nuance and complexity and it keeps evolving and changing in the glass. The aromas are decidedly ‘cool’ with floral elements, sweet French oak and fresh tobacco alongside intense blackcurrant. RE the 2016, I had a sample sent to me at home last year:Ī wine of striking finesse and elegant proportions. In terms of older vintages, I’m a big fan of 1991, 19. Recent vintages have been delicious - isn’t Michael Silacci still making it? - plus it’s accessible in terms of being able to buy it, whereas many top CA wines are not for us Europeans, and (wearing my ITB hat) it’s priced at a level that makes it commercially very successful. I reckon Opus is pretty successful all round. Jane Anson, Sept 2019: Decanter – 19 Sep 19 The 97/99 are still a bit on the younger side.Ĭheck out more recent Cellartracker scores for these vintages to see that the hype is real here:īest Opus according to Cellartracker in the past 2 years:Īnother hint at the greatness of these wines comes from two vertical tastings Jane Anson of Decanter (in my eyes, one of the most reliable critics) and La Revue Vins France: I would go for the the 96, 91, 94, 95 vintages (in that order) as these vintages are ready and full of tertiary aromatics. I just hope that the more recent vintages will age like those from the 90s and before. I’ve had the 1994, 1996, 1997 several times over the past 24 months and put it into several blind tastings and it always delivered great results and very high scores and even though it’s a tad sweeter it was often confused with a great aged Bordeaux from a riper vintage. If one was to try a somewhat older vintage of it as I prefer some age on my cab, what vintage do you guys suggest? Thanks! I know Opus One gets a bad rap, but I still want to try it given that I really love Mondavi Reserves and generally enjoy California Cabs. However I do find myself buying Dujac for similar magnitudes. I have a few Opus tucked away, older, waiting for a day. RE: Burgundy, people go monkey shit me included to be honest. If you love it, you will seek it out and buy it. I’ll just add that QPR is in the eye of the beholder. Hard to find any under $300 currently, but I’ll have to continue looking! I think it has to do more with QPR and current prices. I may have been unfair calling it getting a bad rap. Last one I had was before their involvement, which I believe was somewhere around 2005. It’s gone through some changes and I’m not sure who’s making it since Constellation got involved. At the time it was around $100, which was high, but didn’t make it particularly out of line, since a lot of other wines were hitting that price. And I admit, I was one.īut then I tried it one day and thought it was actually pretty decent stuff. Then a lot of wines came out that were every bit as good and not as expensive. It was a big loud project initially, and it was a costly wine for the time. Chardonnay is also very successfully cultivated, and about 30% of the AVA’s acreage is planted to white grapes, with the majority of those grapes being Chardonnay, Read more.Mike - I don’t know that it really gets a bad rap, but it is a confusing wine. Many grapes grow well in Napa’s Mediterranean climate, but the region is best known for Cabernet Sauvignon. Napa Valley’s AVA was established in 1983, and today there are 16 sub-appellations within the Napa Valley AVA. But by the late 1950s and early 1960s Robert Mondavi and other visionaries were producing quality wines easily distinguishable from the mass-produced jug wines made in California’s Central Valley. An infestation of phylloxera, an insect that attacks vine roots, and the onset of Prohibition nearly wiped out the nascent Napa wine industry in the early 20th century. Other winemaking pioneers followed in the late 19th century, including the founders of Charles Krug, Schramsberg, Inglenook and Beaulieu Vineyards. Yount planted grapes and began producing wine commercially. Winemaking started in Napa in 1838 when George C. With nearly 43,000 acres of vineyards and more than 300 wineries, it is the heart of fine wine production in the United States. Napa Valley AVA is the most famous winemaking region in the United States and one of the most prestigious in the world.
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