Opus One 2022

Opus One was founded in Napa Valley by Robert Mondavi and Baron Philippe de Rothschild as a Bordeaux-style estate in California. The wine is a blend led by Cabernet Sauvignon with Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and other red varieties, grown in the Oakville area of the valley. Napa's warm, dry growing season ripens Cabernet fully and gives the deep colour and ripe tannin that define the style, while the gravelly, well drained valley-floor and bench soils keep vigour in check and concentrate the fruit. The multi-variety blend follows the Bordeaux model, with each grape adding a part: Cabernet for backbone, Franc for perfume, Petit Verdot for colour and spice. Ageing runs for nineteen months in 225 litre French oak barrels, where the slow ingress of oxygen firms the tannins and the wood adds cedar, vanilla and spice that frame the fruit. At 14 percent the wine is full but composed. It shows a deep red. The nose leads with blueberry and blackcurrant over cedar, tobacco, leather and sweet oak. The palate is full and polished, with ripe, fine-grained tannin, fresh acidity and a long, layered finish. Serve at 17 to 18 degrees and decant well ahead.