Opus One - Napa Valley Red 2012 (1.5L)
Price: $910.00
Sale Price: $795.99
| Producer | Opus One |
| Country | United States |
| Region | California |
| Subregion | Napa Valley |
| Varietal | Red Blend |
| Vintage | 2012 |
| Sku | 01744 |
Opus One Description
Mother Nature favored the 2012 vintage with a superb growing season characterized by moderate temperatures and bountiful sunshine. At harvest, the fruit exhibited intense flavor, layers of complexity and excellent structure. Picking started on September 21st and continued through October 20th.
VINTAGE 2012
After a warm and dry winter, generous rains returned in March just in time for bud-break and provided the water needed for the rest of the year. Mother Nature continued to favor the vintage with a superb growing season characterized by moderate temperatures and bountiful sunshine resulting in one of the valley’s most exceptional vintages. At harvest, the fruit exhibited the classic style of our Oakville estate vineyards with incredible depth of flavor, layers of complexity and excellent structure. Picking started on September 21st at the fresh fruit stage of ripeness to keep flavors bright and lively. Through careful and precise management of the incoming fruit, harvest
continued evenly until it was completed on October 20th.
The wine effuses dark fruit aromas accentuated by subtler notes of forest-floor and graphite. The wine’s round mouthfeel and satiny tannins wrap around classic flavors of cassis, blackberry and black cherry. This refined and age-worthy wine offers lively acidity and a sturdy structure with a long lingering finish.
Varietals
Cabernet Sauvignon 79%, Cabernet Franc 7%, Petit Verdot 6%, Merlot 6%, and Malbec 2%
Skin Contact
18 days
Barrel Aging
18 Months in new French oak
James Suckling: 97 Points
Glorious purity of fruit here with black currants, blueberries, dark chocolate, fresh herbs and forest floor. Hints of mint too, plus hazelnut and chocolate. Full body with seamless tannins and balance. Tight and compacted tannins with beautiful fruit and great length. Goes on for minutes. One of the best Opus' in years. Hard not to drink now but better in 2018. October 2015 release. This is 79% cabernet sauvignon, 7% cabernet franc, 6% merlot, 6% petit verdot and 2% malbec.
Wine Advocate: 96 Points
The iconic 2012 Proprietary Red Opus One is a blend of 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc, 6% Petit Verdot, 6% Merlot and 2% Malbec aged 18 months in French oak. A classy, complex, suave and savory 2012 Opus One, with notes of toasty oak and crème de cassis. This Pauillac lookalike, made by the staff at Mouton Rothschild, is a beauty. They have continued to strengthen the quality of wine and seem to have produced a brilliant, world-class wine. I imagine the 2013 may even eclipse this, but this 2012 is one of their great ones, with a seamless integration of acidity, tannin, alcohol and wood all present in this beautiful, full-bodied wine that should drink well for 25-30 years.
Vinous Media: 95 Points
The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon is supple and radiant throughout, with gorgeous suppleness and purity to the flavors. Sweet red cherry, hard candy, raspberry wild flowers and cinnamon are some of the notes that grace the palate. Racy and forward, yet classically mid-weight in structure, the 2012 is likely to drink well pretty much upon release. Once quite rich, the 2012 is developing into a wine of finesse and open-knit sensuality.
-- Antonio Galloni
Wine Spectator: 93 Points
A Pauillac-like expression from Napa Valley, this features smoky, toasty oak from the get-go, framing the intense flavors of earth, crushed rock and gravelly dried dark berry. The dense core of fruit pushes through a front of rustic graphite and loamy earth. Finishes with a long, layered aftertaste. Cabernet Sauvignon. Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Merlot and Malbec. Drink now through 2028.
Stephen Tanzer: 91 Points
(79% cabernet sauvignon, 6% cabernet franc, 6% petit verdot, 6% merlot and 3% malbec): Deep red-ruby. Highly perfumed aromas of blackcurrant, violet, coffee, graphite, menthol and leather. Sappy, classically dry and penetrating, showing excellent intensity to the flavors of black fruits, coffee bean, spices and bitter chocolate. Boasts lovely grain and density but this is currently quite firm-edged, finishing with a cool herbal note and serious tannic spine.
