Opus One Winery Short History and Review

By: Mark A. Aselstine

When people visit Napa for the first time, there are a few wineries which immediately grab their attention, one of the most common is Opus One. Aside from the obvious architectural differences between Opus One and the rest of the wineries in Napa, both the style of the wine and the history of the winery set it apart from all others.

It’s easiest to tell a story by starting at the beginning, with Opus One that means the early 1980’s when Robert Mondavi and Baron Phillipe de Rothschild met and decided that a joint venture would be an amazing project for the preeminent families of French and American wine to take on together. To get the venture off the ground Mondavi offered 35 of his best acres in his To-Kalon vineyard to the project.

After purchasing a parcel of land the dual proprietors decide to name the winery in Latin, giving it the best chance of being recognized by both English and French speaking consumers. Opus as many people know, means the great musical work of a composer.

The more recent history of the winery has been more mixed with the unfortunate passing of both of the original owners and the well documented public offering of the Mondavi corporation.

So what should you expect from the wine? It’s a balancing act with Opus One. In many ways the winery has the impossible task of taking the French wine philosophy of balance with fruit that seems to struggle for full ripeness versus the classic Napa wine that is in many an attempt to control ripeness as grapes can often over-ripen which leads to fruit bomb wines that are more characteristic of cheaper wine from South America.

In many ways the winery has settled on using hand crafted wine techniques such as hand sorting grapes and only gravity flow processes in an attempt to allow the fruit to truly be the attraction.

In the 2007 we have begun to see the type of quality in the wine that we’d all expect. Not only does the wine give off some of the natural Napa flavors imparted by the former riverbed that the vines grow in, but the wines are grown and harvested in a way that keeps the alcohol content at a manageable level. This manageable alcohol content gives the wine a certainly old world feel and creates the type of food friendly wine that is expected in France.

Would I suggest the wine? Of course, although I prefer the traditional bigger California wines it is interesting to see the affects that growing and winemaking practices can have on wine. Try a bottle of Opus One to see all the iterations that are possible in Napa.

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