2017 Opus One Proprietary Red Napa Valley 750 ml

Touring Opus One and tasting with winemaker Michael Silacci was an honor that couldn’t be equaled—and we’re thrilled that, because of our members’ response to our first Opus One offer, the winery has reached out to us with an allocation of their 2017 Opus One Red Wine.

We invite you to celebrate by claiming the sublime 2017 Opus One, straight from the winery’s cellar to yours. 

Opening, pouring, and indulging in Opus One is a singular pleasure, and the 2017 is showing beautifully young, with ripe black currant, black raspberry, and cherry aromas enmeshed in baking spice, fresh herbs, and violet notes. The plush mouthfeel shows supple, tightly woven tannins laced with ripe black cherry and blueberry flavors, and harmonious notes of fresh herbs, black olive, cocoa powder, and toast singing in the background, building to a crescendo on the long finish. Antonio Galloni was effusive about this wine, calling it a “dense, full-throttle beauty” that’s “exotic, beautifully perfumed and impeccable in its balance.” He summed it up as “one of the most complete wines of the vintage.”

Last summer’s visit with winemaker Michael Silacci was an indispensable glimpse into the process by which Opus One becomes one of the great wines of the world. It grows on four unique vineyard plots: the Ballestra and River Parcels, which flank the winery, as well as To Kalon North and South, located across Highway 29. At harvest, the fruit goes directly into the pristine winery, where 175 acres’ worth of grapes are judged, one by one, as worthy or unworthy of Opus One. From vineyard to tank, the journey rarely takes more than 12 hours.  

Silacci has been on the job for nearly two decades, and when we spoke in June, he told us his original goal at Opus: “I wanted to enhance tradition and maintain innovation. That was my mantra.” His first goals in the glass were to increase the wine’s concentration and length in the finish—things to be approached through pruning and barrel selection. 

Change, according to Silacci, never comes quickly at Opus One. “We’re always pursuing nuances. We never really make huge changes,” he told us. “It’s the sum of all nuances that make a difference, so we’re constantly fine-tuning what we do, whether that’s in the vineyard or the cellar.” Considering that 13 of Wine Advocate’s top 14 vintages of Opus One have come on his watch, the nuances that Silacci has influenced have added up to massive success. 

Despite that fact, Silacci is unfailingly humble. When we spoke, he confessed that his curiosity keeps him taking occasional wine classes at Napa Valley College (but he makes the instructor swear not to reveal his identity). He also once gave an impromptu tour of Opus One to two visitors who seemed lost, and only at the very end—when one of the guests remarked that Silacci seemed to know a lot about the operation—did he mention that he was the winemaker. 

The Opus One story began when Baron Philippe de Rothschild (of Bordeaux First Growth Mouton-Rothschild) conceived of a Bordeaux-Napa Valley alliance. When Rothschild met Robert Mondavi in 1970, he knew he had his man. Eight years later, after the partnership was struck in what’s known as the Bedroom Summit, America’s most regal wine was on its way to the world.

The two luminaries’ philosophy was simple from the beginning: Opus One would be a classic Bordeaux-style wine, it should reflect the partnership between the Mondavi and Rothschild families, and it should be different and unique. 

Now, nearly four decades into the operation, Opus One stands as a model to all Bordeaux-style wines, and it stands tall as Napa Valley’s worldwide icon. We’re thrilled to have earned the opportunity to bring this one-of-a-kind wine to your cellar.