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2004 Opus One


Kid Cid
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So my mom is visiting for the next couple of weeks. While we were out shopping yesterday, we stopped at the wine store to stock up as we are want to do. As we going about our business filling up our cart, Mom come up and say, hey, I'm getting this for you. It was a bottle of the 2004 Opus One. I really tried to talk her out of it, I really did because it certainly wasn't something that I would consider buying for myself!

 

I really didn't know what to expect from this wine. Opus One is a collaboration between Robert Mondavi and Baron Phillippe de Rothschild so I had to wonder if they were just trading on the name recognition. I was quite blown away by this wine. Not big or bold, it was light and yet very pronounced fruit at first taste. Flavors of cassis and berry abound. Great balance, no hint of alcohol, not a ton of oak (like most CA wines), and the tannins were very subtle. It finished with just a hint of tar or leather. This became more pronounced after the first glass for some reason. I did let this wine breathe for over an hour before pouring so I'm pretty sure it had opened up before we tasted it. All in all, quite the experience.

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I haven't had the 04 yet but I've had most of the other years. Some years I've been reasonably impressed while others have simply fallen flat which is my biggest problem with Opus. If you're paying $150+ each time for a bottle then it damn well better be great everytime. :wacko:

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So my mom is visiting for the next couple of weeks. While we were out shopping yesterday, we stopped at the wine store to stock up as we are want to do. As we going about our business filling up our cart, Mom come up and say, hey, I'm getting this for you. It was a bottle of the 2004 Opus One. I really tried to talk her out of it, I really did because it certainly wasn't something that I would consider buying for myself!

 

I really didn't know what to expect from this wine. Opus One is a collaboration between Robert Mondavi and Baron Phillippe de Rothschild so I had to wonder if they were just trading on the name recognition. I was quite blown away by this wine. Not big or bold, it was light and yet very pronounced fruit at first taste. Flavors of cassis and berry abound. Great balance, no hint of alcohol, not a ton of oak (like most CA wines), and the tannins were very subtle. It finished with just a hint of tar or leather. This became more pronounced after the first glass for some reason. I did let this wine breathe for over an hour before pouring so I'm pretty sure it had opened up before we tasted it. All in all, quite the experience.

 

Glad to hear you liked it. Opus One is a wine that I won't touch without some good reports. IMO, they're living off a few great years and in the recent vintages, the quality don't justify the price. They are just wildly inconsistent from year to year so hopefully the 04 is a return to form for them. In general, I have been stocking up on 04 California Cabs...seems to have been a very good vintage for most of areas. Probably a little early, but a bordeaux style blend will usually be approachable earlier than a cab.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Opus One is one of my wife's favorite wines and I try to buy the "good" vintage's but have been disappointed several times! I have been collecting Orin Swift's Mercury Head since it's release in 2001 and haven't touched it, only tasted each one on release... We went to dinner the other night and I saw the 01 on the wine list for $90 and had to try it... What a fantastic wine, I would recommend it to any Opus drinker and my wife has another (less expensive) wine.

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I agree with y'all... a great wine should be great every year.

 

We were touring Col D'Orcia and the marketing manager was frustrated that their wines were being lumped in with others in the 2002 year. They had a bad harvest and destroyed more than half their crops in order to maintain a great production, even if the volume was low.

 

There should be no such thing as a bad year for a good wine.

 

 

Also, RIP Robert Mondavi.

Well, this is at least true in Napa where it's basically Eden and the weather ranges from really freaking nice to perfect. Seriously, there's no excuse at all for a top Napa red to be damn near stellar year in and year out.

 

In plenty of areas of Europe, however, the weather can be pretty damned fickle and only so much can be done. Now, the top houses should always be the best of the vintage and consumers can always opt out. However, highly allocated wines are held over your head like pre-season games for season ticket holders. You don't get to cherry pick and expect your allotment when the juice is really good. That, as much as any reason is the fact that I don't even bother with the absolute top of the line. There's always a good vintage somewhere where everyone made tasty juice and I'll just stock up on those.

 

In terms of Opus, I've had several years and certainly wouldn't turn down a glass. However, there are other potentially over-hyped wines that I would choose over it. Take Dom Perignon. It's easy to play the hater card on that stuff since it's maybe one of three wines that everyone who's even heard of wine knows the name of. Thing is, I used to cook for someone who opened a lot of it, including lots of older vintages and I had to give it up. The stuff is amazing. Really, really amazing.

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Well, this is at least true in Napa where it's basically Eden and the weather ranges from really freaking nice to perfect. Seriously, there's no excuse at all for a top Napa red to be damn near stellar year in and year out.

 

In plenty of areas of Europe, however, the weather can be pretty damned fickle and only so much can be done. Now, the top houses should always be the best of the vintage and consumers can always opt out. However, highly allocated wines are held over your head like pre-season games for season ticket holders. You don't get to cherry pick and expect your allotment when the juice is really good. That, as much as any reason is the fact that I don't even bother with the absolute top of the line. There's always a good vintage somewhere where everyone made tasty juice and I'll just stock up on those.

 

In terms of Opus, I've had several years and certainly wouldn't turn down a glass. However, there are other potentially over-hyped wines that I would choose over it. Take Dom Perignon. It's easy to play the hater card on that stuff since it's maybe one of three wines that everyone who's even heard of wine knows the name of. Thing is, I used to cook for someone who opened a lot of it, including lots of older vintages and I had to give it up. The stuff is amazing. Really, really amazing.

 

California vintages have been just as affected by weather from vintage to vintage as other regions. The weather swings might be different and involve more heat at the wrong time more than wet and/or cold weather but the wines are definitely affected. Look at the 06 California Pinot scores. Kosta Browne's average scores dropped 4-5 points and there aren't many better than KB. Generally, I think 04 California Cabs were much better than quite a few recent vintages. I do agree that other regions can be more affected though.

 

I spent Saturday with Dick Shea, Lynn Penner-Ash, and Josh Bergstrom barrel tasting their 07 Pinots. These are 3 premier Oregon pinot producers and from what I've sampled so far, I'll be sending my money outside Oregon. If everything is this watered down at this stage, I don't see the wine growing fruit or structure with a few more months in the barrel. Very disappointing. There were a couple that I'd probably drink right now, but if they soften at all from here, they'll be water by release. I'm fine without the over-the-top fruit that California builds their Pinots around but wasn't even getting a hint of the terroir that the best Oregon Pinots are known for. I'm going to hit the southern Willamette next weekend since they weren't hit by the rains as much. But the late harvest also affected a number of other factors. In a single day of harvest on the same vineyard, I've heard of sugar content going from 24 brix in the morning to 26 brix by the end of the day. I'm still cautiously optimistic. With late cold snaps followed immediately by record heat, we were 2-3 weeks late in the bud break this spring. If the harvest gets pushed back into October, we'll be in danger of more rain again for the 08 harvest. I have heard that the whites are coming out ok, but haven't tried any from Oregon grapes yet. (I will say that Owen Roe's 07 whites out of the Dubrul vineyard in Washington are stellar - spent Friday drinking Owen Roe wines at their Oregon base).

 

We've been in a pretty good buying spot recently. Obviously, the 05 European wines are great. The 05 Washington Reds are Great. The 04 California Cabs rock. The 06 Oregon Pinots are outstanding. Due to the different wine making and aging prior to release, these all hit the shelves at the same time so there are plenty of great wines on the shelves right now. With 06 and 07 French reds taking a dive and some off vintages in Oregon and California, we're going to see a couple things happen.

 

1.) People are going to start embracing different new world wines.

2.) Hopefully over-inflated prices will start coming back down with some of these. I have about 3 cases of 05 French Bordeaux in the locker now and it wasn't cheap. Luckily, so far returns on sales have been pretty good.

3.) People that can't figure out that good wines exist outside France & the U.S. will drive 07 Sauternes futures sales through the roof.

Edited by Seattle LawDawg
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California vintages have been just as affected by weather from vintage to vintage as other regions. The weather swings might be different and involve more heat at the wrong time more than wet and/or cold weather but the wines are definitely affected. Look at the 06 California Pinot scores. Kosta Browne's average scores dropped 4-5 points and there aren't many better than KB. Generally, I think 04 California Cabs were much better than quite a few recent vintages. I do agree that other regions can be more affected though.

Don't confuse Pinot, which is grown in cooler areas and, by nature, is a much more fickle grape with how Napa Cabs fare from year to year. I used to live down the road from Napa and visited the place all the time. There is not a more predictably nice major wine growing region out there. Now, they might start running into problems if rather apparent (if not scientifically proven :wacko: ) global warming trend continues because the warm and cloudless summers might prove to be too much of a good thing. However... I mean, look at the 90s. How many times did they have the vintage of the century that decade? 4? 5? I remember the 98s got panned. They were fine. It's just that the weather was merely good as opposed to picture perfect all summer.

 

Burgundy and Bordeaux, on the other hand, don't get it so easy.

 

But don't take my word for it, here's how Parker rates the vintages since 1990 for all three:

 

14 of the 17 years, Napa gets a 90+ and one of the other 2 is 88.

 

 

CA Cab (which I'm assuming is basically Napa)

91E 95T 91R 92I 95E 96T 78C 88T 85R 94I 90T 94T 95E 90E 93R 94T 94E

 

Burgundy (Cotes du Nuits)

NT 98T 85I 93T 93T 86I 84R 92R 84I 89R 89T 90R 72C 85C 69C 86R 93Ry

(Cotes du Beaune)

NT 96T 80I 88T 90T 79I 80C 93R 82C 88R 89R 85R 73C 80C 82R 77C 92Rg

 

Bordeaux (depending on the village)

87E 95T 88T 95T 88T 88R 96T 88R 87T 84R 96T 92T 85C 78C 79C 75R 98E

88E 98T 87T 88I 88T 89E 94T 89R 86T 82R 88T 88E 85C 77C 75C 74R 90E

87E 96T 88T 88I 87T 88R 97T 88R 94T 86R 86E 89E 88E 86C 75C 74R 90R

92E 95T 88E 84E 85E 90E 95T 88R 96T 87R 85E 92T 89T 87C 82C 58C 96R

88E 99T 88E 90I 87E 90E 96T 88R 96T 86R 87T 88E 86T 84C 75C 59C 98R

 

Oregon, because it's much more like Burgundy (hence the fact that the pinot is so good, is more prone to marginal years.

Edited by detlef
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Don't confuse Pinot, which is grown in cooler areas and, by nature, is a much more fickle grape with how Napa Cabs fare from year to year. I used to live down the road from Napa and visited the place all the time. There is not a more predictably nice major wine growing region out there. Now, they might start running into problems if rather apparent (if not scientifically proven :wacko: ) global warming trend continues because the warm and cloudless summers might prove to be too much of a good thing. However... I mean, look at the 90s. How many times did they have the vintage of the century that decade? 4? 5? I remember the 98s got panned. They were fine. It's just that the weather was merely good as opposed to picture perfect all summer.

 

Burgundy and Bordeaux, on the other hand, don't get it so easy.

 

But don't take my word for it, here's how Parker rates the vintages since 1990 for all three:

 

14 of the 17 years, Napa gets a 90+ and one of the other 2 is 88.

 

 

CA Cab (which I'm assuming is basically Napa)

91E 95T 91R 92I 95E 96T 78C 88T 85R 94I 90T 94T 95E 90E 93R 94T 94E

 

Burgundy (Cotes du Nuits)

NT 98T 85I 93T 93T 86I 84R 92R 84I 89R 89T 90R 72C 85C 69C 86R 93Ry

(Cotes du Beaune)

NT 96T 80I 88T 90T 79I 80C 93R 82C 88R 89R 85R 73C 80C 82R 77C 92Rg

 

Bordeaux (depending on the village)

87E 95T 88T 95T 88T 88R 96T 88R 87T 84R 96T 92T 85C 78C 79C 75R 98E

88E 98T 87T 88I 88T 89E 94T 89R 86T 82R 88T 88E 85C 77C 75C 74R 90E

87E 96T 88T 88I 87T 88R 97T 88R 94T 86R 86E 89E 88E 86C 75C 74R 90R

92E 95T 88E 84E 85E 90E 95T 88R 96T 87R 85E 92T 89T 87C 82C 58C 96R

88E 99T 88E 90I 87E 90E 96T 88R 96T 86R 87T 88E 86T 84C 75C 59C 98R

 

Oregon, because it's much more like Burgundy (hence the fact that the pinot is so good, is more prone to marginal years.

 

I definitely hear what you're saying re: California Cab. "Just as affected" wasn't the right thing to say. I do agree that the region is probably more stable than any other growing region, but I think there's still a significant difference between a 91 and a 95 vintage. Also, Cab is a very resilient grape so in determining whether weather has an effect, other grapes may provide a better benchmark. Take a California Cab and compare it to a Bordeaux and most people will point out that one of the main differences noted is the oak and big tannins in the California Cab. Oak just doesn't change from vintage to vintage.

 

I hadn't looked at the vintage chart for awhile. Now I know where my money will be going next year: Time to stock up on 05 CA Cabs!

Edited by Seattle LawDawg
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I definitely hear what you're saying re: California Cab. "Just as affected" wasn't the right thing to say. I do agree that the region is probably more stable than any other growing region, but I think there's still a significant difference between a 91 and a 95 vintage. Also, Cab is a very resilient grape so in determining whether weather has an effect, other grapes may provide a better benchmark. Take a California Cab and compare it to a Bordeaux and most people will point out that one of the main differences noted is the oak and big tannins in the California Cab. Oak just doesn't change from vintage to vintage.

 

I hadn't looked at the vintage chart for awhile. Now I know where my money will be going next year: Time to stock up on 05 CA Cabs!

Of course, the irony is that I completely disagree with his assessment of '04 red Burgs. I think they're classically styled and quite nice. When the '05s came out they were completely backward and not drinking all that well (though you could see the promise). That coupled with the fact that the 04s were generally showing quite well and everyone was dumping really nice premier cru offerings to make room for the '05s made for a nice opportunity to buy. Especially for the restaurant considering the fact that I don't have the storage space or the budget to put together much of a library so I need to mostly buy things that taste good tonight.

 

Mind you, the '05s I bought for myself are starting to show much better than a year ago.

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