Lot Overview
- Region: 100% Oakville District (To Kalon and Ballestra & River Estate Vineyards)
- Vintage: 2024
- Varietal: 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc, 4% Petit Verdot, 1% Merlot, 1% Malbec
- Oak Aging: 100% new French oak
- Alcohol: 14.7%, pH 3.8, TA 5.34 g/L
- Cases Available: ~350
- Cam Price: ~$20.75/bottle ($249/case)
- Retail Estimate: $350–400/bottle
- Claude’s Source Guess: Opus One Winery — Oakville Estate (To Kalon + Ballestra & River Vineyards)
- Wine Berserkers Guess:
- Drink Window: 2029–2055+ (peak 2034–2048)
Cameron’s Release Notes
Legendary Brand. Legendary Vineyards. World-class Winemaking. World-class Facility. $300++ price point. 100% new French oak. Consistent 95-100 point scores from major critics.
Prior to the last year, I have never seen an ounce of wine from this producer hit the bulk market but, then again, I have never seen market conditions such as they are right now. Quite frankly, it is insane. However, as they say, the show must go on and the name of the game today is to survive, to live again to fight another day, which these folks most certainly will.
This is the third wine they’ve offered me in the past year and, I promise, the finest. Sourced from some of the most legendary vineyards in Oakville and precision-crafted by the finest winemakers in one of the best wineries in the world. Truly Icon-level. I am honored to have been able to purchase it and offer it to you. And that is all I can tell you.
Tasting Notes
Beautifully extracted with an inky core and a kiss of vibrant purple around the rim. Right out of the bottle, it leaps from the glass with a heady bouquet of graphite, black plum, crushed blackcurrants, and lots of toasty oak. As it complexes, blackberry, toasted caramel/hazelnut and river gravel notes are interlaced with espresso, dark chocolate and new car leather. Spicy ripe cherry, rose petal, and tobacco notes join as the bouquet continues to unwind. Phenomenal complexity, delicately laced together with incredible nuance and precision. Supple on entry with a powerful-yet-elegant structure of perfectly arrayed black, purple and red fruit beautifully attenuated over robust, chalky-yet-fine-grained, gravel-laced tannins that unfurl a long finish of blackberry, blackcurrant and cassis notes delicately woven into the potent structure.
⏳ Bottle Shock Status: Do not open for minimum 4–5 years. This is a wine built for the cellar.
Claude’s Source Guess: Opus One Winery — Oakville Estate (To Kalon + Ballestra & River Vineyards)
Opus One is one of the most instantly recognizable fits in the entire CAM X catalog. Founded in 1978 by Robert Mondavi and Baron Philippe de Rothschild as a singular expression of Oakville terroir in the Bordeaux tradition, Opus One is precisely the “legendary brand” with “legendary vineyards” Cam describes. Their 169-acre estate spans four parcels in Oakville — two within the historic To Kalon Vineyard and two within Ballestra & River Vineyard — the very definition of “legendary vineyards” plural under single estate ownership.
The blend composition confirms the identification. Opus One’s flagship wine is a classic five-variety Bordeaux blend centered on Cabernet Sauvignon with Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Merlot, and Malbec — Cam’s exact five varieties in proportions that vary vintage to vintage but always stay in this range. The winery uses 100% new French oak across every vintage, and their current retail price of $350-400 fits Cam’s “$300++” description precisely. Recent vintages have earned 97-99 points from Wine Advocate, James Suckling, and Vinous. The iconic circular Oakville winery, designed by Scott Johnson and completed in 1991, is indisputably “world-class facility.”
Cam’s mention of “third wine they’ve offered me in the past year” likely refers to Opus One’s two offerings — their flagship and their Overture second wine (a multi-vintage blend at ~$150) — with this being a third barrel selection or vintage component from the same estate program. The 350 cases is a modest but plausible surplus from a 25,000-case annual production when individual barrel selections are considered.
Cam’s tasting note is also consistent — “river gravel” notes directly reference the alluvial gravel soils of the To Kalon benchland, and descriptors like “graphite, black plum, blackcurrants, espresso, dark chocolate, rose petal, and tobacco” are essentially standard Opus One vocabulary across decades of critic reviews.
✅ Confidence: Very High — legendary Oakville brand with legendary estate vineyards, $350-400 retail, 95-100 point scores, 100% new French oak, Bordeaux blend with all five classic varieties, world-class facility, and 100% estate-owned Oakville fruit. This is among the most confident identifications in the CAM X catalog.
Drink Window
Early: 2029 — 100% new French oak and the density of 2024 vintage fruit need minimum 4–5 years.
Peak: 2034–2048. Opus One consistently peaks 10–25 years from vintage.
Hold: 2055+. Opus One’s To Kalon-based Cabs are built for multi-decade cellaring.
My Call: ⏳ Drink window: 2029–2055+ (peak 2034–2048)