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88 Wine Spectator
Elegant, polished, supple and complex, with pretty currant, cedar, anise, sage and tar notes. Turns firmly tannic. Drink now through 2008. 25,000 cases made. ?JL
86 Robert Parker
A surprisingly feeble garnet/ruby color already displaying pink and amber hues is followed by a Medoc-like bouquet of cedar, plums, cherries, and spice box with hints of sweet oak as well as roasted peanuts. The wine is light to medium-bodied, with fine balance but a short finish. This fully mature 1998 requires consumption over the next 5-8 years. If the Bordelais can significantly drop prices, recognizing the inherent weaknesses in the international marketplace as well as the overall quality of the wines, why can't California wine producers do the same, especially when this vintage is considerably inferior to 1997 and 1996?
Producer
Opus One Winery
Unarguably the most well-known European wine families, the Rothschilds, paired up with one of the great New World wine pioneers, Mondavi, to create this legendary Californian estate. What started as a joint venture between the two, Robert Mondavi of Napa Valley and Baron Philippe de Rothschild of Bordeaux’s Château Mouton Rothschild back in 1978, the Opus One Estate is now one of California’s most high-profile wineries. They released their first vintage, the 1979, in 1981, at a then astonishing price of fifty dollars a bottle. When the Cabernet blend was released, it was originally named Napamedoc, but in 1982, they began to label it under Opus One - accentuating the bond between the old and new world. A blend of all five Bordeaux varieties, the icon wine consists of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot. This flagship wine, along with the duo’s innovative vision, has made the Opus One Estate Napa Valley’s leading cult-winery.