What kind of wine is opus one?

Question

Trying to determine if Opus One is a Cab, Merlot, What??

Answer 1

Opus One is an overpriced blended cab. Their 1980s and 1990s stuff was quite tasty, but recently they've been riding on their name. I wouldn't buy one for what they cost. Not when there are better cabs at half the cost.

Answer 2

The current vintage (2003) blend is: 86% cab mixed with 3%malbec, 6%merlot, 2%petit verdot and 3%cabernet franc. Other vintages vary according to the winemaker. This is know as either a Bordeaux blend after the region of France, or by some a meritage. These are the five grapes Bordeaux winemakers can use.
Opus One is the creation of a teaming of Robert Mondavi and Baron Phillipe de Rothschild.

Answer 3

Opus One is a cabernet sauvignon-based wine!
The first vintage, 1979, was pure California – California fruit and California winemaking, of that era. Lucien Sionneau came over from Bordeaux but he was too late to have much impact on the final wine, except for identifying some potential lots of press wine which in the end were not used. But something had to be released because the announcement had been made.
Then the 1986, and indeed most wines of the late 1980s from Opus, demonstrate the very particular character of a wine made from fruit grown California style but vinified à la bordelaise. And then during the 1990s we see the formula settling down to a harmonious blend of the best of Bordeaux with the best of California. I don’t think you would ever mistake these wines for a top bordeaux – they’re too ripe and sweet for that. And yet they have a much drier, tauter, more French accent than most of their peers. And they certainly don’t belong to the school of overripe, over-alcoholic, over the top California Cabernets of which we have seen so much in recent years.

Answer 4

Opus One Winemaker

Answer 5

I agree that you're best off getting 4 bottles of $50 wine. Once you reach that level, most of the money goes into the "rarity" of it, as in a particularly good year, or a small winery. A $200 bottle from a small winery could be as good as a $50 bottle from a slightly larger winery, it's hard to say. If you go under $50, though, you're not really getting a "special" wine that much. $30 is special to me, but a $20 bottle I wouldn't think of as being special, if that makes sense. I'd rather four $50 bottles than one $200 or ten $20 bottles. Try a theme of some sort -- 4 different bottles of the same type from the same region (maybe the region your family is from?), or 4 different years of the same wine, maybe 4 different varietals from the same winery? Lots of combinations, but finding a set of 4 should be easier than a set of 5 or 10 ;)

Answer 6

The percentages depends on the vintage but it is usually around 85-95% cabernet sauvignon, and the rest split between cabernet franc and merlot, some vintages also include very small (1%) amounts of malbec.

Answer 7

Its a big nasty tannic delicious piece of cab.

Answer 8

cab