Thread: 1998 Opus One
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Lawrence Leichtman[_2_] Lawrence Leichtman[_2_] is offline
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Default 1998 Opus One

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>,
"Bi!!" > wrote:

> On Nov 19, 2:21?pm, Dana Myers > wrote:
> > 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

>
> I understand that 1998 wasn't up to the standards set by other
> vintages in Napa but I've had a number of wines (Caymus, Shafer
> Hillside Select, Phelps Insignia, etc) from the '98 vintage that were
> quite good and are still drinking well. I recently read the "House of
> Mondavi" and after reading it I'm surprised that they were able to
> produce any decent wine at all. It seems that if it weren't for the
> high quality fruit that they were blessed with that they would have
> really had a bust on theri hands with Opus. Too many chefs in the
> kitchen, etc. I also seem to recall that the pricing for Opus was
> basically done by the Baron by taking the benchmark for pricing of
> luxury Napa cabernet and doubling it.


I had a Shafer Hillside select from 1998 last night with Osso Buco.
Great combination and nice wine so there is plenty of cabernet from 1998
that is good.