The 1991 Opus One is completely different from its predecessors. The style is decidedly rich, voluptuous and opulent for the era. Sweet silky tannins support a creamy, expressive finish in a wine that is very much built on texture. Today the 1991 is showing beautifully. The slightly advancing aromatics suggest it is best enjoyed over the next decade. The 1991 is a racy Opus One long on personality. The blend is 93% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Cabernet Franc and 1% Merlot.

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. Tel. (707) 963-1979.

Dark red with an amber rim. Wild, musky, fully resolved aromas and flavors of plum, currant, spices and leather, plus a suggestion of stewed tomato. Then surprisingly alive, even a bit high-pitched, on the palate, showing slightly tart acidity and good energy but only moderate nuance and pliancy. (A second bottle of this wine was a bit more truffley and less lively.) (13.4% alcohol; this was the first vintage made in today's Opus One winery)

The first vintage made at the spanking-new Opus winery (as opposed to across Highway 29 in the Robert Mondavi winery). Our host Laurent Delassus very kindly went into the Opus One cellar to present us with this blind. The colour was so deep – deeper than the 2016 – that I didn't at first realise how old it was. Maturity evident only at the rim. Mellow yet fresh with delightful lift. Perhaps the 2016 will eventually be like this? (JR)