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Always an eagerly anticipated release, Opus One has carved an enviable niche for itself in the minds of collectors and speculators alike.
The last decade has witnessed a succession of superlative wines released from this enticing joint venture, the combination of Napa fruit and first growth know-how proving a heady mix. That it is distributed on allocation via La Place reflects the wine’s ambition to be compared with the great wines of the Medoc and more often than not it succeeds in both quality and price.
Typically offered at £900 per 6 bottle case, you would expect to pay between £1000 and £1100 per 6 for recent vintages in the secondary market. If one looks further back to the lauded 2007, a wine Robert Parker described as “one of the two strongest wines ever made at Opus One”, you would expect to pay £1400 per case.
At £875/6 for the 2012, a vintage that Parker calls… “classic, virtually textbook-perfect…a gloriously ostentatious, charming, rich, well-balanced vintage that will drink well young yet, certainly in the best cases, have 20-30 years of longevity ahead of it…” Galloni – 96 points, “Rich powerful and seductive…it is superb”, it would be a surprise if the market resisted its charms.
Opus One 2012: £875.00 per 6 IB
Rich, powerful and seductive, the 2012 Opus One blossoms in the glass with superb textural richness and volume. Dark red and black fruit, smoke, cedar, new leather and tobacco all meld together as the 2012 shows off its personality. Fine, silky tannins support the huge, creamy finish. The 2012 has just been bottled, but it is superb. I expect the 2012 will offer a long and broad drinking window of pure pleasure… 96 points Antonio Galloni