OPUS ONE 1979-2023

A 45-vintage vertical tasting shows the evolution of a California first-growth

- BY JAMES MOLESWORTH

When the 1979 vintage of Opus One debuted in the consumer market in 1984, its price was $50 a bottle, a whopping sum for a California wine at the time. Needless to say, more than a few eyebrows were raised.

"There were lots of feelings about it at the time [it debuted]" says Tim Mondavi, who helped make the wine from the beginning. “I know I was very excited.”

Born of a joint venture between Baron Philippe de Rothschild, owner of Bordeaux first-growth Château Mouton-Rothschild, and Robert Mondavi, who founded his namesake winery in Napa Valley in 1966, Opus One helped establish Napa Valley's reputation while creating a template for scads of joint-venture wine projects that have since followed. (See “Composing Opus One,” page 40.)

While the name recognition of its prominent owners helped give the wine immediate market bling, the wine itself took longer to develop. In the winery, the process evolved through the marriage of two cultures that sometimes dovetailed, other times not so much. The American side and the French side shared the same goal—to produce a great wine. But greatness in wine is never immediate.

A recent vertical tasting covering every vintage from the debut 1979 to 2023 shows a track record of quality that mirrors the project's development writ large. The early years offered mixed results; a middle period demonstrates the wine finding its footing, while its third act brings it forward to today, defined by a remarkably consistent profile and quality level. All that in 45 years, still a relatively short time frame. After all, wine is a long game.

“My father said to show them everything,” says Tim Mondavi about the initial days and working with the France-based team from Mouton. “Good, bad, best, worst, experiments, trials, everything. He said to show them our capabilities and how we worked.”