Opus One 1996
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Parker
Robert - Decanter
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Blend: 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Cabernet Franc, 3% Merlot, 3% Malbec
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This is one of the finest Opus Ones to date, offering a dark ruby/purple color, as well as a striking, intense bouquet of sweet licorice intermixed with blackberries, cassis, plums, and saddle leather. This seamless, full-bodied wine is more velvety-textured, opulent, and succulent than past vintages. The mid-palate is expansive and chewy. The long finish is filled with glycerin, ripe fruit, and sweet tannin. Drink this impressive, user-friendly yet richly concentrated effort over the next 15 years.
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Decanter
The 1996 Opus One reveals an intense and expressive bouquet of black cherries, plums, cassis and spices; the prelude to a rich, textural and quite densely extracted palate impression with some firm tannins on the back end. By the mid-1990s, Opus One saw considerably longer macerations than was the case in the 1980s, and than is the case today, so their tannic profiles tend to be rather more monolithic. While the 1996 blend includes Malbec, which first became a component of Opus One in 1994, it is also the last Opus One not to include any Petit Verdot, a grape that has been part of the blend ever since 1997.
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Learn about Opus One, it’s history, the winery and the wine.
History of Opus One
Opus One is a partnership founded by Baron Philippe de Rothschild of Chateau Mouton Rothschild in Pauillac, France, and renowned Napa Valley vintner, Robert Mondavi. Producing luxury wines from its Napa Valley vineyards, the partnership made its first vintage in 1979 and has made wine at Opus One since 1991. The facial profile of the two founders is visible on their iconic label.
Opus One Wine
The essence of time is expressed in Opus One wine by the character of each vintage. Place, often defined as terroir, represents the geography, the climate and the essential human element which is captured in the wine’s balance between power and finesse, structure and texture.
Guided by the vision of our founders, winemaker Michael Silacci combines intuition and technical acumen with the dual perspective of viticulturist and winemaker. From tasting berries to careful sorting and extended aging in new French oak barrels, each stage of the winemaking process is afforded the same meticulous consideration and attention. After 18 months, the Opus One wine is bottled and held an additional 15 months until release on October 1st each year.
The Opus One Winery
Rising gracefully from the vineyards, Opus One winery stands in subtle celebration of the land and the open space that surrounds the estate. It remains an ongoing testament to the founders’ vision of a singular wine that transcends generations.
The estate vineyards of Opus One, comprised of four parcels, sit in the western portion of the famed Oakville AVA in Napa Valley. Two parcels, totaling 100 acres, are within the renowned To Kalon Vineyard. These are complemented by the combined 70 acres of the Ballestra and River parcels, which envelop the winery. In the vineyards, hand-harvesting and other traditional approaches are taken wherever they work best. When modern techniques benefit the winegrowing process, they are researched, evaluated and integrated into practice