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1988 opus one - Printable Version

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- bobby - 01-27-2001

I have a 1988 Opus One from Napa Vally bottled by robert Mondavi. What to know how much longer it can keep in room temperture and how much it is worth because i have no clue. If you can help me out or even give me a estimation on this cabernet i would be very glad.
thank you


- mrdutton - 01-27-2001

Opus One is a Mondavi and Chateau Mouton Rothschild product. It is a cult wine and I am not really convinced it is worth the price, though it most likely is a quality product. However, Opus One certainly is more available than such wines as Screaming Eagle.

Be that as it may, you can get information from such sites as:

Wine Spectator: www.winespectator.com

Wine Searcher: www.wine-searcher.com

Opus One: www.opusonewinery.com/

Here is what Opus One says about their 1988 Vintage. Based on their comments, it is just about at prime and and may soon start going down-hill. I've never had the oportunity to taste it, so can only pass on to you the winery's comments and not my own:

Vintage
Erratic temperatures throughout the first few months of the season caused some shatter in the grape flowers and uneven rates of maturation. The resulting smaller crop and smaller berry size yielded tannic, full-bodied wines for consumption within a decade.

Varietal
Cabernet Sauvignon 85%, Cabernet Franc 13%, Merlot 2%

Skin Contact
28 days

Barrel Aging
18 months, new French oak

Since you've kept it at room temperature, it will have tended to age more rapidly than if it were kept in a properly chilled cellar. So your bottle may be past prime.

The only way you'll ever know for sure will be to pop open the bottle and taste it! Have a back-up bottle just in case you get one-half of the recipe for salad dressing.

Also, since the provenance of your wine is not so hot (no pun intended), you'd probably have a hard time selling it for anything more than you may have paid for it, if that much.

[This message has been edited by mrdutton (edited 01-27-2001).]