Extremely perfumed and floral with lavender, lilacs and violets to the sweet, ripe berries, such as blackberries and blackcurrants. Some slate and graphite, too. It’s full-bodied, yet ever so balanced and refined, with super fine tannins that last for minutes. Fresh herbs, such as bay leaf and lemon grass highlight the dark fruit. The quality of tannin is exquisite with wonderful polish and refinement. Lasts for minutes. So wonderful to taste now, but better after 2026.

Review Date: 10th August 2021

As is so often the case with Opus, the wine expands slowly but surely, seducing you with the quality of tannins and the depth of the fruits that are wrapped around them. Silky at first, but as the wine expands you feel a grainier, slate texture that holds your interest. Rosebud, blackcherry, cassis purée, espresso, juicy and elegant finish, extremely moreish. Similar vintage style to the 2005, a wine that I loved during a vertical of Opus I did in 2019, and the result of a mild and moderate growing season. They have eliminated green harvest as of 2020, and instead anticipate how to balance the crop earlier in the season during shoot thinning. 18 days skin contact in the cellar, another sign that this is a gentle vintage where everything came naturally so no need to macerate too long (over the years maceration has varied between 9 days and 43 days). Tasted twice.

Review Date: 6th September 2021

Power and concentration from the start but with a lovely vein of cool blue fruits and an invigoratingly fresh core. Dark chocolate, coffee, blueberries and pomegranate combine to give a seductive nose and follow through on the palate with an immediate burst of juicy acidity and plush tannins. Layered and nuanced, the texture is striking, elegant and precise with juice that his the side of the mouth supported by oak spice that gently frames the overall feeling giving balance. Abundant in a sense but also reigned in making you want another glass straight away. 80% wild yeast fermentation for the first time as of the 2018 vintage.

Drinking Window: 2024 - 2040

Reviewer Name: Georgina Hindle

Review Date: 20th July 2021

Very deep garnet-purple in color, the 2018 Opus One soars out of the glass with bright, bold boysenberries, warm cassis and ripe, juicy black plums notes, plus emerging nuances of lilacs, oolong tea, cinnamon stick, tilled soil and black truffles. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is packed with tightly wound layers of crunchy black fruits, supported by firm, grainy tannins and fantastic freshness, finishing with lifted fruitiness and on a lingering mineral note.

Drinking Window: 2024 - 2058

Reviewer Name: Lisa Perrotti-Brown

Review Date: 27th February 2021

The 2018 Opus One is absolutely exquisite. Bright red berry fruit, crushed flowers, mint and spice are all finely cut. The 2018 impresses with its energy and focus. It's a gorgeous wine, and is also showing especially well today, with all of the potential I first saw in barrel very much on display. Bright acids linger on the persistent finish. The 2018 is supremely elegant.

Drinking Window: 2028 - 2048

Reviewer Name: Antonio Galloni

Review Date: 1st January 2022

Full bottle 1,422 g. Bottle ID: D5WD-C6BX. (Looks like a Canadian zip code.) 'Idyllic growing conditions.' 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot, 5% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, 1% Malbec. 18-day maceration with 80% ambient yeast, followed by 17 months in 100% new French oak.
Deep, lustrous crimson – with a pale rim! Nose of warmth and ripeness but not heaviness. As though from a ripe Bordeaux vintage but then the tannins are so much riper than on most red bordeaux. Tangy freshness on the finish – one can only guess at the number of sessions in the tasting room that went into this blend! (Interesting to see more Petit Verdot than Merlot or Cabernet Franc.) Some delicacy, which I'm sure was the aim. Quite bordelais but so much more accessible. With impressive persistence. Neat, minerally and fine-boned.

Drinking Window: 2021 - 2035

Review Date: 17th August 2021