WINEMAKER'S NOTES:
High-toned, luminous, passionfruit, focused red berries, flinty with an elegant, long finish.
TASTING NOTES:
Simply put, Christian Moueix's Napa Valley project Ulysses is a wine every collector of Napa Cabernet should have in their cellar. The 2021 release of the Oakville red is a knockout that is never too bombastic, entirely reserved even in its generosity, and one that will last a very long time. A dry winter and spring led to the second consecutive year of a drought that began in January 2020. Temperatures were warm and consistent and slightly above average. The vines produced smaller clusters of small berries with high phenolic compounds and tannin levels. 1,400 cases produced. Opaque purple-ruby to the rim. A wine showing all the best qualities you'd expect from a prime Oakville site. This is a beautifully balanced red, imbued with a tremendously fresh streak of acidity. The nose leads with prime, ripe, dark black fruits, cassis, violets, creme de menthe, and crushed slate.—medium to full-bodied with impressively fashioned tannins that are robust and build through the extravagantly long finish. Marked by ripe black cherry and spiced plum notes, the length is extended by zesty blood orange acidity. Fragrant with sage and thyme, nuanced by brighter cherry blossom freshness and mineral tension. Impressive depth and density with a core of pure, ripe, and juicy fruit. Exceptional.
- Decanter, 99 pts.
This wine delivers an alluring balance of pleasure, restraint, refinement, and seduc- tive texture. Fresh violets and bay laurel lift a complex of spiced, dark fruits and espresso, carrying into a lengthy mineral finish of graphite, gunmetal, and cocoa powder tannins. Balancing acidity brings harmony to a wine of innate intensity and concentration. This is a red wine to age as much as enjoy. Cellar Selection.
- Wine Enthusiast, 98 pts.
The reserved plushness comes out clearly with brightness, focus and very creamy tannins that give it muscle and tension. Juicy and flavorful but not overdone. Energetic and flexing but in a friendly way. Plums, milk chocolate, terra cotta and nutmeg. Almost all cabernet sauvignon with a touch of cabernet franc and petit verdot. Give it four or five years to soften. Try after 2028.
- James Suckling, 98 pts.
The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon is a huge, dense wine. Copious dark fruit, menthol, licorice, plum, espresso and spice are amplified in a large-scale, ample Oakville Cabernet. The 2021 is very much a wine of power and structure. Sepia-toned notes lend darkness, while the oak imprint also appears to be quite present at this stage. Even so, the wine exudes balance but in a pretty extroverted style, especially compared to Dominus.
- Vinous, 96 pts.
There are 1,400 cases of the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon, which offers up charming red-fruited notes of cherries and redcurrants, plus some loamy-earth scents. While it comes across a bit more angular and more coarsely textured than its sister wines Dominus or Napanook, it also seems a bit lighter in body despite also weighing in at 15% alcohol. It's impressively complete and balanced overall, adding savory, mocha-tinged notes on the lingering finish. Owned by Christian Moueix, Ulysses is a separate project from Dominus but also overseen by Tod Mostero and run along similar principles. Moueix purchased the 35-acre property—part of the original Hopper Ranch and located behind Brix and Mustard's—in 2008 and started replanting it in 2009. Like Napanook, it's also dry-farmed and planted mainly to Cabernet Sauvignon, with small amounts of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.
- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 95 pts.
