2012 Opus One Napa

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 2012 Opus One effuses fresh 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 simultaneously offers a long lingering finish, with lively acidity and a sturdy structure at the close.

Varietals:



Cabernet Sauvignon 79%



Cabernet Franc 7%



Petit Verdot 6%



Merlot 6%



Malbec 2%

Skin Contact:



18 Days

 Barrel Aging:



18 Months in new French oak

Wine Watch Tasting Notes:  This is 79% cabernet sauvignon, 7% cabernet franc, 6% merlot, 6% petit Verdot and 2% Malbec.  A beautiful bouquet of cigar box spice, cassis and currant berry fruit, round and this is a beautiful vintage that opens up rather quickly and on the second day there is even more fruit here and quite smooth but with nice acidity and a long layered finish, old world style and new world boldness.  This wine has a certain amount of early drinking appeal like the rest of the 2012 vintage from Napa but it is built to last for decades in the cellar.  Finish 50+   Most Excellent +