Handpicked Regional Selection Cabernet Sauvignon 2017

Bordeaux AOC, France Aromatic to the nose with notes of buttery-vanillin oak flavours and exotic fruit (orange rind and honeyed grapefruit).  On the palate, the wine is round, fleshy with wonderful minerality and again, delightful exotic fruit flavours.  The new-oak flavours are present. Very nice balance between the oak, fruit and acidity.  Excellent finish. 100% Sauvignon Blanc. Harvest is done 100% by hand. Following a skin-contact maceration, 75% of the juice is fermented in vats and 25% in oak-barrels. During this ageing period, “batonnage” is carried out.  After blending and filtration, bottling is carried out in late spring following the harvest.

In the tradition of many great Bordeaux estates, Opus One produces a fine second wine called Overture. Like the introduction of a great musical piece, Overture, the wine, presents elements of the exceptional work itself, although certainly not in its entirety or full complexity. Since 1993, we have created Overture as a result of our highly selective process for Opus One. We meticulously cultivate each section of our estate vineyard with the attention to detail and singular focus required to produce Opus One. This diligence carries through the extensive blending process, and not all wine-lots from our estate are chosen for the final Opus One blend. Yet, when these remaining lots are afforded additional time in French oak barrels, coupled with the added flexibility of blending across multiple vintages, the final wine, Overture, achieves remarkable elegance, complexity and approachability. As a natural extension of the creation of Opus One, Overture’s varietal composition evolves based on the lot selections made for each vintage. Overture reflects the proportion of Bordeaux-heritage grape varieties planted on our estate: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec. Uniquely, Overture captures the essence of our estate across vintages; therefore the exact blend and cellar approach will always differ from Opus One.