In 1981, Mondavi sold part of his share of the vineyard to the newly launched Opus One venture, providing high-quality grapes that serve as the backbone of the blend. It is generally regarded as the best winemaking land Napa has to offer. The To Kalon vineyard is jointly owned by a number of famed Napa producers. Part of the blend comes from Napa’s legendary To Kalon vineyard. Its name is another musical reference, meaning an orchestral piece at the beginning of a composition. Opus One’s second and only other wine, Overture, is made with the fruit that doesn’t quite make the Opus One grade.

The flagship Opus One red wine is a Cabernet-dominant Bordeaux blend, which also contains smaller quantities of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Merlot. While that pales in comparison to modern-day auction prices, it was unheard of at the time, especially for a California-made wine. Opus One set early Napa Valley auction records.Īt the inaugural Napa Valley Wine Auction in 1981, a 12-bottle case of Opus One sold for $24,000. It wasn’t until the 1982 vintage that the brand adopted the name Opus One. The very first vintages of Opus One were labeled Napamédoc, a nod to the wines’ Franco-American heritage. It may have always have been a masterpiece, but it was originally called something else. The Opus One project then officially debuted in 1980. The venture was first suggested by the Baron during a 1970 meeting between the pair in Hawaii, and its fate was sealed when Mondavi visited Rothschild in Bordeaux in 1978.Ĭhâteau Mouton Rothschild’s winemaker, Lucien Sionneau, and Robert Mondavi’s son Timothy made the first joint vintage at the Robert Mondavi Winery in 1979. Opus One started as a New World-Old World partnership between Baron Philippe de Rothschild of Château Mouton Rothschild (Bordeaux), and Robert Mondavi, famed for his eponymous Napa winery.

Opus one bottle