Ulysses Cabernet Sauvignon 2016

Professional Ratings

• 99 James Suckling
  Aromas of sweet berries, fresh herbs, currant bush and licorice. Terracotta. Full body, layered and soft, velvety and focused tannins. Breathtaking texture. The focus ad polished is phenomenal. Harmonious. Enticing. Fascinating and thoughtful. A blend of cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and petit verdot. Drink or hold.
• 95 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
  The deeply concentrated and densely colored 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon needs additional cellaring. While its tannins are ripe and reasonably supple, the flavors need time to unfold—right now, there's a lot of dark chocolate, mocha and rich loamy notes, with black cherries and cassis yet to really blossom. Full-bodied but restrained, elegant and reserved, it's the most Bordeaux-like of these three prior vintages, still in need of additional aging.
  Rating: 95+
• 94 Wine Spectator
  This is well-built but stays restrained in style, featuring alluring cassis and blackberry flavors, lined with black tea, minerally iron and warm tobacco accents. A late flash of warm paving stone adds depth and range through the finish. Should put on weight in the cellar. Best from 2021 through 2036.
• 93 Jeb Dunnuck
  The 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon offers more cool blue fruits, violets, and damp rock-like minerality. Similarly styled on the palate, with medium to full body and a classic structure, it reminds me of a great St. Julien. Still relatively closed and backward, yet with tons of potential, hide bottles for 4-6 years and it should evolve nicely for upwards of two decades.
  Rating: 93+
• 93 Wine Enthusiast

  With small additions of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, this robust red is herbaceous and earthy in compost and forest floor. Earl Grey tea and red currant continue the savory thread of flavor amidst soft, silky tannins and wellintegrated oak.

• 93 Wine & Spirits

  Christian Moueix bought this vineyard in Oakville’s benchlands in 2008, in a similar position against the western hills as his Dominus estate in Yountville and, as with that estate, his team dry-farms the vines. Maybe Dominus has me trained: When I tasted this blind, I thought it might be a Yountville wine—it’s green-herb and sour-cherry notes seeming cooler and finer than the rich cabernet fruit I associate with Oakville. The tart blueberry-skin flavor in the tannins feels youthful and zesty. This is an elegant Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon with a long life ahead.