Mondavi/RothschildOpus One OWC6 2023

Another absolute gorgeous wine from this team, the 2023 Opus One offers up cassis, black raspberries, spicy wood, flowers, and graphite in a beautifully layered, complex, nuanced bouquet. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, with a pure, layered mouthfeel, ripe tannins, and integrated acidity, this ultra-classic, elegant Opus One will keep for 30-40 years. It's at the same level as the 2010, 2016, and 2021. Drink 2025-2065.

The 2023 Opus One is a super classic wine. Brisk acids, fine tannins and lifted aromatics signal an Opus One of exquisite finesse and class. Red/purplish fruit, mint, orange peel and chalk are all woven together in a fabric of nearly indescribable class. The 2023 floats on the palate with understated finesse and lightness, but it's not light in any way. This is class personified. (AG)

The bouquet is utterly enticing, offering cool blue-fruit notes and a dusting of cocoa-powder freshness that stirs anticipation for the first sumptuous sip. On the palate, satiny richness unfolds, imbued with crunchy red cherry and juicy blackberry fruit, alongside refined sagebrush and tobacco nuances. There is a sense of intricately fine-knit tannins – compact yet impressively integrated at this youthful stage – framed by subtle, refined oak spice. The finish is long and mineral, marked by graphite and a touch of black sea salt. The wine was fermented entirely with native yeasts in stainless steel, with a portion aged in amphora in this vintage, before maturing for 19 months in 95% new French oak. The blend is rounded out by small additions of Malbec and Petit Verdot. In 2023, the vines were farmed regeneratively for the first time, with harvest completed by mid-October.

A measured, balanced growing season, dry but without the heat spikes of 2022, and this Opus is a pretty stately beast, deep rich purple, intense, structured, edges of violet set against black fruits, cassis, bilberry, damson. This is one of the slowest unrolls that I have had with Opus, it rewards patience to showcase the chalk and slate texture of the tannins, and you can safely put this away for a few years before drinking. Cabernet Sauvignon dominant in terms of its construction and architecture, 95% new oak. A long slow harvest in this exceptional year, from September 14 to October 16, Michael Silacci winemaking director. Sustainable farming initiatives significantly increased in this year, with the addition of Kimberlee Marrineli to the team, including planting of cover crops across the vineyard to lower soil temperature. The oak is a little higher than in the Overture but less evident in the aromatics.