Readers should plan on giving the 2014 another few years in bottle at a minimum. Stylistically, the 2014 is bright and also a touch linear, with a construction built more on focus rather than opulence. The 2014 Opus One is not as showy or obvious as some of the other surrounding vintages, but it will have its day. One of few Americans to have received the French medal of the Legion of Honor, Robert Mondavi showed extraordinary vision as co-founder of Opus One. But life was not only wine for Robert Mondavi: he broadened the American cultural palate by marrying fine wine to food, music, and the arts. Among other accomplishments, he introduced temperature-controlled fermentation, French oak barrel aging, and high-density viticulture to a fledgling American wine industry. Bringing a passion for excellence to everything he did, Robert Mondavi led a renaissance in California fine wine for over six decades.

Philippe’s vision changed the world of wine: he invented Château bottling, commissioned great artists to illustrate his wine labels – and, in partnership with Robert Mondavi in 1979, created Opus One.In the 1980s, after her father’s death, Baroness Philippine de Rothschild left a stage career that included the Comédie Française and the Renault-Barrault Theatre Company, bringing her own exquisite style and creativity to the design, construction, and operation of Opus One.Among great New World wine pioneers, Robert Mondavi is an international icon. At the age of 20, Baron Philippe took on the management of Château Mouton Rothschild from his father Baron Henri. And Baron Philippe de Rothschild is perhaps the best known of this great family. Of the great European wine families, the Rothschilds are perhaps the best known. Sassicaia is the most famous Bordeaux blend in Italy and has spawned many imitations, whereby the blend is now firmly established in the New World and particularly in California and Australia.Opus One 2014 is made from 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc, 6% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot and 2% Malbec. In St-Emilion and Pomerol, the blends are Merlot dominated as Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen there - when it is included, it adds structure and body to the wine. However 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be slightly hollow-tasting in the middle palate and Merlot with its generous, fleshy fruit flavours acts as a perfect foil by filling in this cavity. It is particularly suited to the dry, warm, free- draining, gravel-rich soils and is responsible for the redolent cassis characteristics as well as the depth of colour, tannic structure and pronounced acidity of Médoc wines. In the Médoc and Graves the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend can range from 95% ( Mouton-Rothschild) to as low as 40%. This is actually the archetypal Bordeaux blend, though in different proportions in the sub-regions and sometimes topped up with Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.

Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself particularly well in blends with Merlot.

2016 opus one price