Smooth silk-like tannins wrap themselves seductively around the exuberant flavors of juicy hedgerow-gathered blackberries, dark black cherries and rich cassis.Īn incredible vintage, Opus One 2012 is elegant and refined. ![]() The mouthfeel is generous and sumptuously rounded. The bouquet is of fresh summer fruit and whispers of pungent dark forrest floor. Opus One 2012 has been barrel aged for 18 months before bottling. The remaining skins, pulp and seeds are pressed and aged separately this pressed wine used proportionally to provide additional backbone in the final blend. When it is ready the wine runs freely from its raised tank into the French Oak cask awaiting it beneath for aging. Inside each tank the fruits are slowly fermented and macerated, this long process drawing out all of the color and flavors from the fruit. The grade A fruit then fed gently by gravity into the de-stemmer where the fruit is gently washed before they are fed into the raised, temperature-controlled stainless-steel fermentation tanks.Įach tank is dedicated to a single lot of grapes and used only once during each years harvest. At the winery the grapes are painstakingly sorted by hand, any that do not meet stringent standards discarded. The Opus One vines of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Merlot and Malbec grape varietals blessed by Mother Nature to produce abundant and bounteous fruit.Ĭarefully monitored, just as they reached their perfect ripeness and were bursting with their most intense and lively flavors and aromas the grapes were hand-harvested, packed lightly and transported with care so as to protect the fruit. Then came plentiful sunshine and a summer of moderate temperatures. The growing season for this 2012 vintage was text-book perfect a warm and relatively dry winter was followed by heavy rains in March providing the vines with the water they needed. This dense planting encourages the vines to produce berries that are more compact, with an all-important high skin to juice ratio. It starts at the vineyard where Opus One plant their vines much more densely than is normal in the Napa Valley. Only in this way can they produce this phenomenal, spectacular wine. Traditional and modern viticultural and winemaking practices are combined no shortcuts are ever taken, there is no room for compromise everything must be done precisely and with extraordinary care. This refined and age-worthy wine offers lively acidity and a sturdy structure with a long lingering finish.Lovingly created at a vineyard where everything has a singular purpose, to create this extraordinary wine, world acclaimed Opus One wine is produced with great attention to detail. The wine's round mouthfeel and satiny tannins wrap around classic flavors of cassis, blackberry and black cherry. The wine effuses dark fruit aromas accentuated by subtler notes of forest-floor and graphite. Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Merlot and Malbec. Finishes with a long, layered aftertaste. The dense core of fruit pushes through a front of rustic graphite and loamy earth. Boasts lovely grain and density but this is currently quite firm-edged, finishing with a cool herbal note and serious tannic spine.Ī 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. Sappy, classically dry and penetrating, showing excellent intensity to the flavors of black fruits, coffee bean, spices and bitter chocolate. Highly perfumed aromas of blackcurrant, violet, coffee, graphite, menthol and leather. I expect the 2012 will offer a long and broad drinking window of pure pleasure.ĭeep red-ruby. The 2012 has just been bottled, but it is superb. Fine, silky tannins support the huge, creamy finish. Dark red and black fruit, smoke, cedar, new leather and tobacco all meld together as the 2012 shows off its personality. Rich, powerful and seductive, the 2012 Opus One blossoms in the glass with superb textural richness and volume. Hard not to drink now but better in 2018. Tight and compacted tannins with beautiful fruit and great length. ![]() Full body with seamless tannins and balance. Hints of mint too, plus hazelnut and chocolate. Glorious purity of fruit here with black currants, blueberries, dark chocolate, fresh herbs and forest floor.
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