The 1999 Opus One is composed of 84% Cabernet sauvignon, 7% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, 3% Malbec, and 1% Petit Verdot. Component lots received an average of 40 days skin contact during fermentation and maceration, prior to 17 months of barrel aging in new French oak.Opus One is known for it's exquisite texture, and the 1999 vintage is no exception. The wine shows aromas of cassis, cloves and roasted almonds against a creamy texture of soft tannins and round, rich fruit. Offering flavors of plum, cherry and black pepper, the 1999 will be charming in it's youth and expressive at maturity.

Deep red-ruby. Sappy nose combines currant, smoked meat, tobacco and exotic spices. Rich, sweet and tactile, with complex, tangy flavors of crystallized blackcurrant, caraway seed and smoked meat. Unlike most Bordeaux blends from California, this shows little greenness or gratuitous oak and the finish builds impressively. A very suave wine that finishes with fine, spreading tannins.

After moderate summer temperatures in 1999, a glorious Indian summer put the final touches of maturity on a fine harvest. The 1999 vintage offers aromas of cassis, cloves and roasted almonds against a creamy texture of soft tannins and round, rich fruit. Long-lived and concentrated, the wine shows flavors of plum, cherry and black pepper against a silky finish.

Born of a meeting of California and Bordelaise minds, this latest release from Opus wine assumes the claret-like stance of France and eschews showy ripeness in favor of rather more sedate and subtle fruit. Its considerable richness derives as much from oak as anything else, and its firm, almost austere finish again reveals a lesser sense of fruit.