Chateau Mouton Rothschild Vertical Bordeaux Tasting Back to the Legendary 1982 Vintage Saturday, November 16th 7:30pm and all the Mouton in the store on SALE!!
"Wine had such ill effects on Noah’s health that it was all he could do to live 950 years. Show me a total abstainer that ever lived that long." - Will Rogers
Hello “Wine Drinking People”!
We don’t trust people that don’t drink wine and since that’s all we sell those are the only people we know at Wine Watch.
Whenever we hit a subject we hit it hard and Pauillac is the subject of study for the month of November and with an open date popping up on the 16th I figured the best way to follow up our Chateau Latour and Pichon Baron studies would be to host a Chateau Mouton Rothschild vertical tasting the following week. We have a collection of Chateau Mouton Rothschild that are all in OWC available on this offering also. These wines were purchased on release and were stored in an underground cellar until last year when they came to Wine Watch. The best-case scenario for wines- only one owner!
Also just for fun I have added an older vintage of the joint venture between the Rothschild family of Bordeaux and the Mondavi family of Napa Valley – Opus One. This iconic Napa Valley wine is the most successful joint venture of its kind in the wine industry no other wineries make as much wine and sell for as high of a price.
For those of you that can’t make the tasting I have included all the Chateau Mouton Rothschild and the Opus One on this offering on SALE!
There are only 12 spaced available for this tasting and the fee for this tasting which includes dinner is $995 + tax. For reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.
Chateau Mouton Rothschild Vertical Bordeaux Wine Tasting back to the 1982 Vintage
Saturday, November 16, 2024
7:30 PM
2019 Chateau Mouton Rothschild Aile d'Argent Blanc
1981 Opus One, Napa Valley, USA
1982 Chateau Mouton Rothchild Pauillac
1985 Chateau Mouton Rothschild Pauillac
1986 Chateau Mouton Rothschild Pauillac
1988 Chateau Mouton Rothschild Pauillac
1995 Chateau Mouton Rothschild Pauillac
1996 Chateau Mouton Rothschild Pauillac
2001 Chateau Mouton Rothschild Pauillac
2003 Chateau Mouton Rothschild Pauillac
Menu
Selection of Cheese and Charcuterie
Grilled Portobello and Burrata Salad with Fig Balsamic Vinaigrette
Duck and Smoked Mozzarella Ravioli with Sundried Tomato Basil Brown Butter and Fresh shaved Parmesan
Beef Short Rib Wellington with Au Poivre
Vanilla Bean Crème Brulee Garnished Candied Ginger
There are only 12 spaces available for this tasting. The fee for this tasting which includes dinner is $995 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com. Please let us know when you make your reservations if you have any food allergies or aversions and chefs Toni and Dani will be happy to accommodate you.
A bit about Chateau Mouton Rothschild:
It is without doubt the most interesting and the most controversial of all the châteaux in Bordeaux; and its former owner, the late Baron Philippe de Rothschild, would have it no other way. There have been four generations of Rothschilds since the Baron's great grandfather, Nathaniel, bought the château in 1853; but the family did not take much interest in Mouton until young Baron Philippe came to live on the property in 1923 - the first Rothschild to be a live-in proprietor. It was to signal a new era for Mouton and a new era for Bordeaux, for not only did the Baron Philippe begin to do much to attract the world's attention to the merits of his own wine, he also generated a great deal of interest in the entire Bordeaux region. After fifty years of hard work, Baron Philippe scored a great personal triumph in 1973. In that year Mouton was reclassified from a second to a first cru in the elite 1855 Grand Cru Classification, a long-overdue recognition and the first time a wine had ever been upgraded in this controversial and ossified classification.
In 1945 Mouton began the controversial practice of adorning each new vintage with the work of a famous artist (such publicity gimmicks were considered "bad form" among the staid, aristocratic society of Bordeaux.) However, the "label art" today has become something famous in itself (the labels themselves are now collector's items and one must get his original by purchasing a bottle), and the original objections raised have long been forgotten. Some of the great artists of the 20th century have done work for the labels - Braque, Dali, Chagall, Kandinsky, and Picasso. Andy Warhol did the 1975, and John Huston, the movie director, painted the label for the legendary 1982. In addition to presiding over one of the world's great wine estates for some sixty years, Baron Philippe had also been a great patron of the arts. The château itself is a major tourist attraction in Bordeaux and houses one of the world's great wine museums. The chai, in which new vintages of Mouton age in shiny barrels, is a breathtaking sight for the winelover. The great Baron died at his home in Paris in January of 1988, and his funeral was one of the largest ever witnessed in the Médoc - nearly 1500 people attended a grand ceremony at the Château. Under French law, the dead may not be buried at their estates, but the Rothschild family was granted an exception by the authorities. The Baron's daughter, the Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, assumed control and management of the Château after her fathers death.
Over the course of the past few years, the Baroness has been actively involved at Mouton, and there was never a doubt that she would continue the legacy established by her father. Certainly the circumstances could not be more favorable, for Mouton-Rothschild has been on a roll in the 1980's - the château has produced some of the greatest wines in its history and arguably the greatest wines in Bordeaux.
Mouton Rothschild is planted to 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc, 8% Merlot and 2% Petit Verdot. The vineyard is mostly gravel on a subsoil of marl and clay. Vines are planted 8,000 to 10,000 per hectare. Average yield per hectare is 35 hectoliters. Pruning is Guyot Double Medocaine Keep this wine around for 10-15 years, although at that time you may not want to drink it after you check the current sale price.
Chateau Mouton Rothschild available:
1982 Chateau Mouton Rothchild Pauillac, France
Price: $2400.00 Sale Price: $1725.00 Quantity in Stock: 7
(100 Points) Opaque purple-colored showing absolutely no signs of lightening, Mouton's 1982 is a backward wine. Still tasting like a 4-5 year old Bordeaux, it will evolve for another half century. At the Philadelphia tasting, it was impossibly impenetrable and closed, although phenomenally dense and muscular. However, on two other recent occasions, I decanted the wine in the morning and consumed it that evening and again the following evening. It is immune to oxidation! Moreover, it has a level of concentration that represents the essence of the Mouton terroir as well as the high percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon it contains. Cassis, cedar, spice box, minerals, and vanillin are all present, but this opaque black/purple Pauillac has yet to reveal secondary nuances given its youthfulness. It exhibits huge tannin, unreal levels of glycerin and concentration, and spectacular sweetness and opulence. Nevertheless, it demands another decade of cellaring, and should age effortlessly for another seven or eight decades. I have always felt the 1982 Mouton was perfect, yet this immortal effort might be capable of lasting for 100 years! Readers who want to drink it are advised to decant it for at least 12-24 hours prior to consumption. I suggest double decanting, i.e., pouring it into a clean decanter, washing out the bottle, and then repouring it back into the bottle, inserting the cork, leaving the air space to serve as breathing space until the wine is consumed 12-24 hours later. The improvement is striking. The fact that it resists oxidation is a testament to just how youthful it remains, and how long it will last. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2075. Wine Advocate # 129 June 2000
1985 Chateau Mouton Rothschild Pauillac, France
Price: $895.00 Sale Price: $750.00 Quantity in Stock: 7
(90 Points) The rich, complex, well-developed bouquet of oriental spices, toasty oak, herbs, and ripe fruit is wonderful. On the palate, the wine is also rich, forward, long, and sexy. It ranks behind both Haut-Brion and Chateau Margaux in 1985. I am surprised by how evolved and ready to drink this wine is. Readers looking for a big, boldly constructed Mouton should search out other vintages, as this is a tame, forward, medium-weight wine that is close to full maturity. It is capable of lasting another 15 years. This estate compares their 1985 to their 1959, but to me it is more akin to their 1962 or 1953. Anticipated maturity: Now-2012. Last tasted, 10/97. Bordeaux Book, 3rd Edition # B1, January 1998
1986 Chateau Mouton Rothschild Pauillac
Price: $1800.00 Sale Price: $1250.00 Quantity in Stock: 17
(100 Points) After stumbling over some wines I thought were high class Bordeaux, I nailed this wine in one of the blind tastings for this article. In most tastings where a great Bordeaux is inserted with California Cabernets, the Bordeaux comes across as drier, more austere, and not nearly as rich and concentrated (California wines are inevitably fruitier and more massive). To put it mildly, the 1986 Mouton-Rothschild held its own (and then some), in a flight that included the Caymus Special Selection, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cask 23, Dunn Howell Mountain, and Joseph Phelps Eisele Vineyard. Clearly the youngest looking, most opaque and concentrated wine of the group, it tastes as if it has not budged in development since I first tasted it out of barrel in March, 1987. An enormously concentrated, massive Mouton-Rothschild, comparable in quality, but not style, to the 1982, 1959, and 1945, this impeccably made wine is still in its infancy. Interestingly, when I was in Bordeaux several years ago, I had this wine served to me blind from a magnum that had been opened and decanted 48 hours previously. Even then, it still tasted like a barrel sample! I suspect the 1986 Mouton-Rothschild requires a minimum of 15-20 more years of cellaring; it has the potential to last for 50-100 years! Given the outrageously high prices being fetched by so many of the great 1982s and 1990s (and lest I forget, the 1995 Bordeaux futures), it appears this wine might still be one of the "relative bargains" in the fine wine marketplace. I wonder how many readers will be in shape to drink it when it does finally reach full maturity? The tasting notes for this section are from two single blind tastings, one conducted in May, 1996, in California, and the other in June, 1996, in Baltimore. Wine Advocate # 106, Aug 1996
1988 Chateau Mouton Rothschild Pauillac, France
Price: $825.00 Sale Price: $650.00 Quantity in Stock: 41
(92 Points) Very pretty aromas of vanilla, tobacco, berry and chocolate. Medium- to full-bodied, with soft tannins and a berry, chocolate finish. Not very dense. This pales compared with the other top Pauillacs. I never thought this was a perfect wine, but it gives great pleasure.—'88/'98 Bordeaux blind retrospective (2008). Drink now. 20,000 cases made. –JS Wine Spectator Issue: Web Only - 2009
1995 Chateau Mouton Rothschild Pauillac
Price: $999.00 Sale Price: $795.00 Quantity in Stock: 43
(95 Points) Bottled in June, 1997, this profound Mouton is more accessible than the more muscular 1996. A blend of 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Cabernet Franc, and 19% Merlot, it reveals an opaque purple color, and reluctant aromas of cassis, truffles, coffee, licorice, and spice. In the mouth, the wine is "great stuff," with superb density, a full-bodied personality, rich mid-palate, and a layered, profound finish that lasts for 40+ seconds. There is outstanding purity and high tannin, but my instincts suggest this wine is lower in acidity and slightly fleshier than the brawnier, bigger 1996. Both are great efforts from Mouton-Rothschild. Anticipated maturity: 2004-2030. Wine Advocate # 115, Feb 1998
1996 Chateau Mouton Rothschild Pauillac Magnum
Price: $1800.00 Your Price: $1584.00 Quantity in Stock: 1
(97 Points) Deep garnet in color, it sashays out of the glass with lavishly dressed, gregarious crème de cassis, baked blackberries and plum pudding scents plus touches of menthol, fenugreek, star anise and sandalwood with fleeting glimpses at dried rose petals and oolong tea. The full-bodied palate is richly fruited, opulent and oh-so seductive, with bags of youthful black fruit and lovely finely grained tannins, finishing with fantastic freshness and length. (LPB) Review Date: 10/2019, Wine Advocate
1998 Chateau Mouton Rothschild Pauillac Magnum
Price: $1500.00 Your Price: $1320.00 Quantity in Stock: 1
(96 Points) Like many of its peers, the 1998 has filled out spectacularly. Now in the bottle, this opaque black/purple-colored offering has increased in stature, richness, and size. A blend of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, and 2% Cabernet Franc (57% of the production was utilized), it is an extremely powerful, super-concentrated wine offering notes of roasted espresso, creme de cassis, smoke, new saddle leather, graphite, and licorice. It is massive, with awesome concentration, mouth-searing tannin levels, and a saturated flavor profile that grips the mouth with considerable intensity. This is a 50-year Mouton, but patience will be required as it will not be close to drinkability for at least a decade. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2050. Wine Advocate # 134, Apr 2001
2019 Chateau Mouton Rothschild Aile d'Argent Blanc
Price: $177.00 Your Price: $155.76 Quantity in Stock: 8
(93-95 points)Mouton's white is a blend this year of 61% Sauvignon Blanc, 38% Semillon and 1% Muscadelle, harvested from the 5th to the 11th of September. This 2019 Aile d'Argent sails of of the glass with beguiling scents of pink grapefruit, lemon drops, orange blossoms and candied ginger with hints of jasmine, lime cordial and coriander seed. The medium-bodied palate reveals compelling poise and sophistication, with a racy line of freshness lifting the citrus and spice layers to a long, opulent finish. Very impressive! -Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
2020 Chateau Mouton Rothschild Aile D'argent Blanc
Price: $180.00 Your Price: $158.40 Quantity in Stock: 6
(93-95 Points) Composed of 52% Sauvignon Blanc, 14% Sauvignon Gris and 34% Sémillon, the 2020 Aile d'Argent has no Muscadelle this year, no skin contact and no malolactic. It sails out of the glass with fabulously flamboyant notes of fresh pineapple, nectarines and jasmine, plus suggestions of key lime pie, passion fruit and orange zest. The medium to full-bodied palate delivers opulent tropical and citrus fruit layers, supported by plenty of freshness and a decadent touch of oiliness to the texture, finishing long and impactful. So hard to resist even at this nascent stage, I can't wait to see how this is going to age! Wine Advocate
OPUS ONE
Just for fun I thought we should add an old bottle of Opus One to the line-up for this event. This is the joint venture between the Rothschild family of Bordeaux and the Mondavi family from Napa Valley. Opus One is by far the biggest sucess story that the wine industry has seen over the last 50 years. They produce over 30,000 cases of this great Napa Valley wine and other than Château Mouton Rothschild and Château Lafite Rothschild there are no other wines made anywhere in the world that sells for as much and they make as many bottle. These three properties are always among the world’s top wines every vintage.
1979 Opus One, Napa Valley, USA
Price: $2350.00 Sale Price: $1950.00 Quantity in Stock: 1
This is the first vintage of Opus One and it has been a few years since we have put this wine on the table but every time in the past that it has been on the table it showed beautifully.
1980 Opus One, Napa Valley, USA
Price: $1500.00 Sale Price: $1050.00 Quantity in Stock: 3
(99 points) "This wine was stunning when I tried it in June 2018, and delivers again here. Just a wonderful nuanced wine rippling with flavour. Richer and more layered than the 1979, with dense black cherry and black truffle, finishing on softer forest floor notes. Opened up and kept surprising over hours in the glass. No Merlot in this vintage. One of the coolest growing seasons on record, long and slow with two weeks of hot weather just before harvest that brought the grapes to perfect ripeness. Just 10 days skin contact during the winemaking, but still inky in colour and still going strong almost 40 years on." Vinous
1981 Opus One, Napa Valley, USA
Price: $725.00 Sale Price: $600.00 Quantity in Stock: 4
Winemaker Notes: 1981 marked one of the earliest harvests in Napa Valley history. A very mild winter with lower-than-average rainfall gave way to early bud break and hot weather in June. The 1981 Opus One is lean, elegant, and quite long-lived.
2002 Opus One Napa (6 Liter)
Price: $6500.00 Sale Price: $5100.00 Quantity in Stock: 1
(94 Points) I tend to think that recent vintages of Opus One are even greater than vintages made during this era, but the 2002 is certainly one of the top wines Opus has produced during the early part of this century. It boasts a dense plum/purple hue along with a striking bouquet of graphite, toasty oak, creme de cassis and acacia flowers. Full-bodied, opulent and young, it offers accessibility as well as silky tannins. A thoroughly complete wine that is pure and rich, it tastes like a hypothetical blend of a great Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon married to a Bordeaux Pauillac. Bravo! (RP) Review Date: 06/2012, Wine Advocate
2017 Opus One Proprietary Red Wine Napa
Price: $500.00 Sale Price: $405.00 Quantity in Stock: 1
(95 Points) Opus One had picked 91% of their fruit before the fires started in 2017, and only two lots were eliminated from consideration. The 2017 Opus One, bottled in July 2019, is a blend of 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8.5% Petit Verdot, 5% Cabernet Franc, 4.5% Merlot and 1% Malbec. Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, it slowly grows on the nose, revealing compelling notes of baked black cherries, mulberries, black raspberries, warm cassis and blackberry pie with nuances of spice cake, yeast extract, tapenade, licorice and dusty soil with a waft of wild sage. Medium-bodied, the palate has a lively skip in its step, featuring bags of juicy raspberry and cassis-laced fruit and a refreshing line, supported by ripe, plush tannins, finishing long and graceful. Wine Advocate
2018 Opus One Napa 3 Liter
Price: $2750.00 Your Price: $2420.00 Quantity in Stock: 1
2018 Opus One Magnum Napa
Price: $1132.50 Your Price: $996.60 Quantity in Stock: 2
2018 Opus One Napa Valley
Price: $485.25 Your Price: $427.02 Quantity in Stock: 2
2018 Opus One Napa 375ml
Price: $199.50 Your Price: $175.56 Quantity in Stock: 1
(98 Points) Very deep garnet-purple in color, the 2018 Opus One soars out of the glass with bright, bold boysenberries, warm cassis and ripe, juicy black plums notes, plus emerging nuances of lilacs, oolong tea, cinnamon stick, tilled soil and black truffles. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is packed with tightly wound layers of crunchy black fruits, supported by firm, grainy tannins and fantastic freshness, finishing with lifted fruitiness and on a lingering mineral note. Wine Advocate
2019 Opus One Napa MAGNUM
Price: $1159.00 Your Price: $1019.92 Quantity in Stock: 3
2019 Opus One Proprietary Red Wine Napa USA
Price: $480.00 Your Price: $422.40 Quantity in Stock: 2
2019 Opus One Proprietary Red Wine Napa USA 375ml
Price: $245.00 Your Price: $215.60 Quantity in Stock: 11
(99 Points) Winemaker Michael Silacci commented that usually the blends are finished in January or February after the vintage. This year, with the 2019s, he was still tweaking the blend, but he did mention that this is "pretty close to the final blend." Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2019 Opus One leaps from the glass with notes of Black Forest cake, Morello cherries, mulberries and fresh blackcurrants plus hints of licorice, wilted roses, Sichuan pepper and iron ore. Full-bodied, the palate is jam-packed with juicy black, blue and red fruits, framed by velvety tannins and background freshness, finishing on a compelling earthy/mineral note. Tasted as a barrel sample, this is a truly magnificent Opus One in the making! Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
2021 Opus One Napa
Price: $485.25 Your Price: $427.02
2021 Opus One Napa (375ml)
Price: $270.00 Your Price: $237.60 Quantity in Stock: 11
(100 points) “A classical vintage that perfectly suits the Opus style. Gorgeous vivid plum colour, sculpted, balanced, with a ton of lift, waves of rose petals, iris and peony, soft grilled cumin, sage and white pepper spice. Love the hidden power here and the supple slightly chalky tannins that are structured in their architecture with a precision and carved quality. Precise, layered and stretched out, a brilliant Opus, concentrated and yet delicate. Feels pared back and captures the spirit of early Opus, when it moved forward the conversation of what Napa could be. Michael Silacci director, 100% new oak for ageing extremely well integrated even now. (8/2024) Jane Anson
October/November means it’s time for the fall releases and none of these are more highly anticipated than the iconic Opus and this year we are anxiously awaiting the release of the 2021 vintage as there was no 2020 Opus One produced. This vintage looks to be exceptional in Napa Valley and you better stock up on your Napa Valley Cabernet as most producers like Opus One made no Cabernet at all in 2020 because of the fires.
Are there two men that walked the earth over the last 100 years that were more important to the wine industry as a whole? I am talking about the two original partners in the Opus One project; Robert Mondavi and the Baron Philippe de Rothschild.
Well, it is kind of ironic that the wines from this winery are now getting the best press ever. We have always been big fans of Opus One and have hosted several events over the years with this winery including an event that put all 26 consecutive vintages released at that time of Opus One on the table. The 1979 showed brilliantly on that occasion as it did in 2010 when we showed it at the great wine seminar with Opus’s CEO David Pearson. Even the French tasters, Pierre-Emanuel Taittinger, Eric Rousseau and Pierre Lurton had nice things to say about this first growth of the Napa Valley.
The newest release is here and although the wine continues to go up in price it has not slowed the demand for this iconic wine as it is sold in over 80 countries the world over and is considered to be one of the most prestigious brands in the wine business.
You can argue that there are better wines at a lower price, but there is no disputing that Opus One is the most successful wine brand created in our lifetime. There is no other wine that has come on the scene the last 40 years that is over 30,000 cases in production and that now costs over $400 per bottle. Opus One is the best investment you could have made in wine the last 30 years!
A bit more about Opus One:
Over the span of a little more than three decades Opus One has become the most renowned name in American wine. The ride to the top has never been easy for the folks behind Opus One. From its conception as an idea created by the late Robert Mondavi and the late Baron de Rothschild, Opus One has been enveloped in controversy. The ambitious price of the first release, the doubting critics, the cynical consumers, and the overworked hype that has surrounded the wine from the beginning have all fueled the debate about its real quality. However, the new century has ushered in a new era for Opus One - this great winery's place in the future scheme of things has now been accepted and the quality niche it has carved for itself is no longer being questioned by the wine community. Opus One has proven itself beyond a doubt - it has, does, and you know you have made it in the world of elite wines when your peers from Bordeaux refer to you as one of the "First Growths" of Napa Valley.
The seeds for Opus were sown as far back as 1970 when Baron Rothschild visited California and made the oft-quoted statement "California wines are like Coca-Cola - they all taste the same." By 1975 the revered Baron, the dynamo who revolutionized Bordeaux and brought great fame to his beloved Château Mouton, apparently had a change of heart. He and Robert Mondavi met that year in Hawaii to discuss future possibilities. Four years later in 1979 the good Baron announced a joint venture with his American counterpart, Robert Mondavi, to produce a Franco-American wine in the Napa Valley. Conceived to utilize French vinification techniques and traditional Bordeaux grape varieties, the wine would be grown and produced in California; the winemaking decisions would be made jointly by Robert Mondavi's winemaker, Tim Mondavi, and his counterpart at Château Mouton, Lucien Sionneau (Sionneau, now retired, was replaced by Patrick Léon). The first vintage for Opus One was harvested in 1979, but it was not until October 1983 that a name for the wine was announced. Hundreds of choices were considered; but it was the Baron, a great patron of the arts and a lover of music, who suggested the name so closely associated with the art of music. When the name was revealed, Baron Philippe said in an interview: "A bottle of wine is a symphony to me". A full two years earlier excitement about the first release of this historic venture reached a crescendo at the first Napa Valley Wine Auction in the summer of 1981. A barrel of the 1979 vintage came up for sale. Nobody but the winemakers and the inner circle of Mondavi's staff had even tasted the wine, yet the bidding was furious for the first case from the first barrel. In less than three minutes the gavel slammed on the winning bid of $24,000 from Charles Mara of Syracuse, New York. The purchase price set an auction record - $2000 a bottle for California wine.
In the beginning, the grapes for Opus One came from Mondavi's best and most famous piece of vineyard real estate, the To-Kalon Ranch, 100 acres of which (known as the "Q Block") were sold to the joint venture by the Mondavi family after the partnership was formed in 1979. In 1983 Opus One began planting on a site across Highway 29 from the Robert Mondavi Winery; it was to be called the River Parcel and is north of the present winery. Two years later the Ballestra Vineyard was planted on what is now the south side of the winery. In the ensuing years phylloxera struck and completely devastated the first two vineyards (now replanted). Only Ballestra, which was planted on resistant rootstock at the specific instruction of Mouton's technical director, Patrick Léon, survived the epidemic unscathed. The winery follows a gravity flow design that put most of the vast edifice underground, covering it with an earthen berm that rises, pyramid-like, from the flat vineyard plain of Oakville which surrounds the site. No expense was spared to build the Opus One winery. According to Robert Mondavi, "We stopped at nothing to buy the finest equipment in order to produce the kind of wine we wanted...We looked at the finest materials in the world. We didn't look at price; we picked what we wanted...we felt this was being built, not for the next 10 or 15 years, but for the next couple of hundred years." Construction of the winery was not without its obstacles. The cellar had to be waterproofed, insulated, and cooled using a costly radiant system based on miles of pipes in the cellar's floor and ceiling that circulate 45 F water, cooling the air to 55 F. Those measures, plus the cost overruns that often are associated with high profile construction projects, caused the Opus One winery budget to balloon. From initial concept to completion, the project took seven years to finish. When the doors opened in 1991, winery officials conceded that Opus, budgeted between $10 and $13 million, had cost a staggering $26 million!
The first two vintages of Opus One - 1979 and 1980 - were released together in the spring of 1984. The wines were controversial in that not all felt they were of outstanding quality. However, most observers now believe that recent vintages have been at the very top echelon of reds produced in California. The wines have also become serious collectibles. The 1985 - one of the top vintages of the 1980's - now commands $400 to $650 a bottle. A bit high for a bottle of California wine, but that seem small in comparison to the 1979 (the first vintage, hardly drinkable at this point) this wine is selling for around $2000- a true trophy wine.