Opus One has had its share of doubters too, despite critical acclaim and strong consumer demand. There are those who are deeply resistant to the notion that just because a great European house has joined forces with an ambitious New World estate, the wine they jointly produce should automatically be good, or should command a stratospheric price. The wine world has spawned many big-money joint ventures, and all have been with some degree of cynicism. Michael’s background has included stints at Beaulieu Vineyard in Napa, King Estate in Oregon and as winemaker at the famous Stag’s Leap winery in Napa. Michael, who trained at UC Davies and the University of Bordeaux, is Director of Viticulture and Oenolgy: he is overall chief winemaker, though still with two assistant winemakers, one from the US and one from France. Michael Silacci, right, explains that all three played a part in shaping Opus One, with both the practicality and the aesthetics of everything from thevineyard plantings, to the winery and labelling design, to the very character of the wine itself, under constant scrutiny. Initially Opus One was shaped by three committees, two that looked after winemaking and viticulture respectively, and a third that looked after aesthetics. The partners were determined that the wine should reflect both parents’ identities, reflecting something of the terroir of Oakville in Napa and Pauillac in Bordeaux, but that the wine should also be something unique.
The first vintage of Opus One was 1979 (tasted below), and from the outset two winemakers were employed, one from California and one from Bordeaux. In 1978 Robert Mondavi went to Pauillac, and the two men, having gotten to know each other, hammered out the details of their joint venture in two hours – “something that would take a team of lawyers two years,” quips Opus One’s current winemaker, Michael Silacci. But the good Baron was somewhat distracted at the time, being in the final throes of his long and ultimately successful campaign to have his beloved Château Mouton-Rothschild reclassified from second to first growth status in the Médoc, which he achieved in 1973.
Robert Mondavi and Baron Philippe de Rothschild met first in 1970, when Baron Philippe was in the US and, rumour has it, specifically looking for a potential partner in a joint venture. Tastings like this one don’t come along every day.
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