Producer Profile
This MONDAVI/Rothschild (Mouton-Rothschild) joint venture was conceived in 1978, the first vintage being in 1979 and remains independent from Constellation in its vineyard management and administration. At the time, super-premium Napa styles of Cabernet had not really materialised and Opus One was uniquely highly priced among its peers. During the 1990s the Mondavi Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from the great To-Kalon vineyard was of a consistently higher standard, although the Q Block part of that same vineyard contributes to Opus One. The wine, a blend of all five Bordeaux varieties, has never quite fulfilled its potential but the scale of the production means there aren’t the scarcity problems found with some other top Californian reds. The wine is always given a very lengthy cuvaison of up to 40 days and is aged in 100% new French oak.