Mondavi - Opus One 1991

WEINWISSER: "Sehr dunkles, noch recht jugendliches Purpur, fast keine Reifereflexe. Dichtes, fettes Bouquet, noch viel Frucht, zimtige Noten, Mokkatöne, schwarze Kirschen, auch noch ein Hauch Vanille. Im Gaumen fest, saftig und sehr homogen, gut stützendes Tannin-Säure-Gerüst, tolle Gaumenaromatik, druckvolles Finale, zu den besten Opus-Jahrgängen gehörend."

DECANTER: "The first year in their own winery, with a winemaking team that still had input from both Bordeaux and Napa, with Patrick Léon and Tim Mondavi. The richness is immediately apparent, and straight away this feels like they were marking the beginning of a new era. There is a powerful core of black fruits, and this is a great wine that is still full of life. 33 days skin contact. This was a cool and slow growing season, with a large crop and late harvest. It was the first express-built gravity flow winery in Napa, and at €27 million controversially expensive at the time."

LISA PERROTTI-BROWN: "Medium to deep brick in color, the 1991 Opus One leaps with ready-to-go expressions of dried cranberries, cigar box, and iron ore opening out to nuances of cumin seed, pencil shavings, prunes, and dried figs. The medium-bodied palate is elegant and vibrant, with great tension and powder-like tannins to support the dried berries and mineral flavors, finishing on a lingering ferrous note."

THE WINE ADVOCATE: "Opus One's 1991 is a gorgeously rich, opaque ruby/purple-colored wine with a knock-out nose of smoke, cassis, vanilla, and a whiff of herbs and licorice. Full-bodied, with surprisingly supple, concentrated, chocolatey, cassis, and blackcurrant flavors that ooze across the palate, this voluptuously-textured example of Opus One is atypical in a vintage that produced so many backward wines. There is no question the wine possesses plenty of tannin, but it is admirably concealed by the copious quantities of concentrated fruit. This Opus can be drunk now as well as over the next 15+ years."

FALSTAFF: "Mittleres Karmingranat, bereits zart unter­ockert, Wasserrand. Einladende reife Dörrobstanklänge, feine Kräuterwürze, zarte tabakige und balsamische Nuancen. Elegant, samtige Tannine, feine Kirschenfrucht, angenehmes Säurespiel, mittlerer Körper, zart animalische Anklänge, bleibt sehr gut haften, feine Würze im Abgang, perfekt gereift."

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "Smoke, tobacco, cigar box, blackberry, earth and truffle scents opened to a fully mature, soft textured, concentrated, sweet cassis filled wine. While not at the level of the sublime 96 Opus, this remains one of the better mature vintages of Opus One in the marketplace."

JANCIS ROBINSON: "Very deep crimson. Quite a meaty nose and then very sweet palate entry. Marked acidity, relatively lean. Not quite charming – but is this a question of time? Fresh and lively. But not especially long. First vintage actually at the Opus winery. When they pressed they saw there was lots of sugar left in the whole berry fermentation so long fermentation really added to the complexity of the wine. An elegant understated model for Michael Silacci to build towards."