Thread: 1998 Opus One
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Dana Myers Dana Myers is offline
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Default 1998 Opus One

Bi!! wrote:
> 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.


1998 was a mediocre vintage in California. In general, Napa
Valley reds were all a bit light, some more than others. I did
taste the '98 Opus One shortly after release and found it quite
light on the palate and vaguely recall even a bit of something like
green olive which *might* have matured into sous bois. After the
string of 1994-1997 vintages of Opus One which seemed to indicate
that Opus One had become a real contender (though still over-hyped),
1998 was disappointing, even when the mediocre vintage is taken
into account. I was a Mondavi shareholder at the time, and went
back to Opus One a few months later to taste the '98 again, with
identical impressions.

> 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!


It's just amazing. I'm sure there are collectors out there that
just have to have a '98 to make complete vertical or something.
I'd much rather buy a case of current vintage BV Rutherford Cab
than one bottle of '98 Opus One.


Dana