Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.4

94 that’s drifting towards 95. Hour decant.

Christian Moueix’s Oakvile property that sits to the north of Dominus and located on the Oakville Bench. There are some that believe there is a bench & others who don’t. I guess it comes down to education & experience that determines one’s opinion.

First time having the Ulysses and is different than the single digit 2000’s of Dominus I’ve had. More a bit of Cabernet candy. Less herbal, gobs of melted dark chocolate to chocolate cake, dark currants & cassis.

The nose shows; dark, ruby, ripe, dark currants/cassis, black raspberry, blackberries, black cherries, black plum skin, plum, baked strawberries & hints of hovering raspberries. Melted dark chocolate bar to cake, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg & vanillin, some fresh tobacco, steeped black tea, mid berry cola, moist clays, very light, fresh herbs, understated dark spice, whiffs of graphite, dry river stone, dry brush, slightly withering; dark, red, blue & purple flowers.

The palate has M+ rounded, velvety tannins. It’s ripe, rich & lush; dark currants/cassis, black raspberry, blackberries, black cherries, black plum skin, plum, baked strawberries & hints of hovering raspberries. Melted dark chocolate bar to cake, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg & vanillin, cocoa powder, caramel, some fresh tobacco w/ ash, sandalwood to cedar, mid used leather notes, steeped black tea, mid berry cola, anise to black licorice, dark spice with some palate heat, moist clays, very light, fresh herbs, understated dark spice, more pronounced graphite, dry top soils, dry crushed limestone, volcanics, dry river stone, dry brush, slightly withering; dark, red, blue & purple flowers-violets, excellent, round city with an elegant, lush, balanced, well kitted & tensioned, polished finish that lasts 90 seconds landing on fruit with softened earthiness.

Roughly 9 yrs in bottle & is just starting to reveal nice integration & evolution. Still acceding & has 15 plus yrs of life ahead of it, properly stored of course.

Paired w/ a Wagyu Ribcap.

I’ve been fortunate to sit next to Christian Moueix at dinner twice and he is authentic/genuine & humble as it gets.

Photos of; Ulysses winery, Christian Moueix, Cabernet fruit and their estate vineyard. — a month ago

Shay A

9.5

Opened as part of a 2-day tasting with Alex Macdonald while he was in town. Day two was a small group of us with killer wines (2010 Chave Hermitage, mag of ‘02 Krug, Selosse Substance, 1996 Latour, 2003 Mouton, 1992 Dominus).

Quick one hour double decant to prep this beauty. While La Mouline is my favorite, La Turque still incorporates the co-ferment with Viognier. 93 Syrah/7 Viognier.

Beautiful translucent ruby in the glass. As I get with certain Cote Rotie wines (especially Guigal), barbecue and bacon fat can be overwhelming when young, but this has channeled a really balanced profile. Aromatic notes of smoked meat, cherry liqueur, and espresso. Beautifully rich yet elegant on the palate. Great nerve of acidity with a finish sporting plenty of tannin to carry this a while. Black peppered raspberries, black fruit on the palate with a little bacon and a hint of sweet/tangy barbecue sauce note (delicious). Enjoy now with a short decant or hold another 5yrs. — 2 years ago

Tobin Trevarthen

10

One of the best wines I have ever enjoyed. Just wow. It surpassed my 1994 Dominus benchmark. — 4 years ago

Andrew McIntyre

9.2

This is young...very young. However! This is already very impressive. Somewhat of a "if you know, you know" wine that has bags of potential. Give this 10 years and it will go up against almost any wine. Did an aged blind tasting against Dominus a few years ago and this smashed. Good one to have in your cellar! — 2 months ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.1

Flight 4 , wine 1 .I probably should have inspected the colour a little better , but noted medium ruby with terracotta garnet rim , a little lighter than the others . Again quite reserved at first with more red fruits than dark , some grafite also . On the palate this shows quite good sweetness with menthol and dark cherry hints . Good ripeness and acidity , rich but with good balance , mint humbug notes after a while . This was enjoyable and showing very well still, had this down as the Dominus , though I was wrong , again (How many times ! ) though It was clearly Napa . — 6 months ago

Tyler Felous

9.5

Drank right after Dominus. Similar in style, perhaps even more finessed. Absolutely old world in character — 9 months ago

LM Segal

9.7

Pure blackcurrant perfectly articulated with dark chocolate, blue fruit and pipe tobacco. Mostly cab that made me think older Dominus, a Bordeaux style in Napa. In a perfect place with a few hours in decanter. — 2 years ago

Alvaro Bustillos

9.4

Lalo jaime diego orlando adolfo MAGNUM — 3 months ago

Anthony James Marr

9.2

From a pristine bottle - cork did its job, but was on the softer side and fell apart after extraction. This leans very herbal with notes of green pepper and green tobacco immediately perceptible on the nose. After that there are notes of earth. There was little to no perceptible fruit left at this stage, but it was a lovely, silk like experience and texture in the mouth with tertiary flavors such as leather, cedar, and some spice. This seemed like it was perhaps on the very early part of its downhill and was beginning to come apart, but should still have another few years left in the tank from properly stored bottles — 6 months ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.0

Flight 4 , wine 2. This was quite a difficult wine to read at first , again quite closed , mineral and tobacco edged . Dark fruits. On the palate rounder than expected , good richness and balance , dark cherry , blackberry fruit . Good rounded tannin and ok length . Quite obviously Bordeaux in the context of this tasting , though I had this as the Lynch Bages 1982 when it was actually the Brane Cantenac 1986 …..I give up ! 90

This was an interesting , though challenging tasting , all served blind in flights of 2 wines , 3 flights of 1 Napa and 1 Bordeaux and 1 of 2 Bordeaux; served in a random sequence . The fact that at least a couple of wines were not pristine didn’t help , though if you will taste 8 , 40 year old wines that is probably par for the course . I found it relatively easy to spot whether what was in the glass was Napa or Bordeaux but didn’t actually get a single wine completely correct ! Probably overall the winner of the tasting was Napa (won the 3 rounds 2-1) as they had more suave polished , rounded personalities. Many put the wines the wrong way round , imagining that Napa was Bordeaux etc. The 1982s in general showed poorly too much funk and brett on the Lynch and Talbot but the Duhart showed surprisingly well . The 86s both showed pretty well and equalled the Dominus (even though I didn’t think we had a pristine bottle) . The Montelena was enjoyable , though was the first to oxidise whilst the Inglenook was the biggest positive surprise , still drinking surprisingly well at 47 . — 6 months ago