The first glass of Opus One that I ever had was in 1986 at a charity event for the grand opening of a restaurant in Detroit called Opus One.  James Kokas was the third generation of restaurateurs in Detroit, and he followed his father’s lead, who had a great restaurant in Dearborn called Chambertin.  I would say that the Kokas family is partial to great wines.  At the grand opening each guest was served a miniature Opus Wine carafe along with the wine.

This was my first introduction to a great wine that was created by a joint partnership between Robert Mondavi of Napa Valley fame and Philippine de Rothschild, proprietress of Chateau Mouton Rothschild in Bordeaux.  Two fine firms with traditions of wine making and innovations for a singular goal to create an exceptional wine in Napa Valley.

I knew that I had to make an appointment for a tasting session and tour at Opus One.  It was serene and an almost religious atmosphere at the winery.  It was cool and shaded and lacked the tumultuous movement exhibited at other wineries, even though this was the harvest season.  The tasting room was very sleek and sophisticated for the pouring of two wines.  When I heard two wines, I was surprised until I found out that the wine that was created in the barrels, if it didn’t fit all the criteria for Opus One was bottled as Ovation.  The Ovation wine is only sold at the winery and was not offered to any distributors.   They also did the tasting using Riedel crystal wine goblets etched with the logo and the names of the two winery owners.  After the tasting, the glass was given as a souvenir, which we carried about as we placed our order for the two wines.

As we were loading our wine order into the trunk of our car, to go to another winery I looked some of the other patrons that were loading up their trunks.  It seemed like it was three cases of Ovation to one case of Opus One was the norm.  I suggested that maybe we should go back and get some more of the Ovation, but my Bride said that I was going to break the bank as it was.  Maybe my palette is not that sophisticated, but I could not find any fault with the Ovation wine, especially at a quarter of the price.

As I look at my collection of labels, I was amazed at the number of vintages I have tried.  We have opened and decanted ’89, ’92, ’94, ’95, ’96 and ’02.  We still are cellaring some more of these as well as a ’91 that I have not tried.  We still have a few of the Ovation left, so that I can see how well it ages in comparison to the big boy.  Once you have had Opus One, you always would like to have another one, and as of yet, I have not had a bad bottle.