Producer Profile
Opus One
Opus One sits amongst California’s leading wine estates. It was founded as a joint venture between 2 leading producers; Baron Philippe de Rothschild of Ch. Mouton Rothschild, and Robert Mondavi, one of the US’ leading figures in the wine industry. The ambitious pair founded the estate in 1978, with the fist vintage being the 1979.
The origins of Opus One can be traced back to a meeting in 1970 in a hotel in Hawaii, where Rothschild and Mondavi first met and began discussing the idea of combining the Old World and the New World styles into one grand opus. Many years later, they have established themselves as a cult wine, and an icon of Napa.
The estate is located in Oakville, a sub-region of Napa Valley. The wine itself is a Bordeaux-style red blend, dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, alongside Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Cabernet Franc. The wine undergoes ageing in new French oak barrels for around a year and a half. They also produce a second wine, Overture, also a Bordeaux blend, but a non-vintage.
One are comprised of four parcels, situated in the western portion of the Oakville AVA. 2 parcels are within the renowned To Kalon Vineyard, these are complemented by the 70 acres of the Ballestra and River parcels, which envelop the winery. In the vineyards, hand harvesting and other traditional approaches are taken where they work best. They carefully cultivate traditional Bordeaux varieties, with attention to detail they bring forth the characteristics of the vintage.
Opus One stands as a celebration of the land, and an ongoing testament to the founders’ vision of a singular wine that transcends generations.
