I ran across a bottle of 1998 Opus One in my cellar which I assume I
was gifted since I haven't bought a bottle of Opus in my life. I've
drank it many times from a variety of vintages and never found it
quite up to its hype. This bottle was no exception. The wine was
medium to light reddish purple in the glass with a bit of pink at the
rim. Fairly mature nose of red currant, plum, leather and a bit of
sous bois. The palate was underwhleming with little impact other than
faint hints of red plum, a hint of currant and a bit of red berries.
The tannins were fairly inconsequential and the finish was light. I
served this wine blind to my dinner guests and they all guessed that
it was a cheap Bordeaux from a borderline appellation. On a 0-5 scale
my guests gave it a 1.5 and were shocked when I revealed it to be Opus
One. A quick check on Winesearcher shows pricing from $100USD to
$350USd....Yikes!