Corney & Barrow to distribute Moueix’s Ulysses

Fine wine merchant Corney & Barrow has been named as the exclusive UK distributor of Christian Moueix’s Napa estate ‘Ulysses’.

The 2012 vintage, the first from the estate, is now being offered at £550 per six, with the limited production (just 800 cases) and allocation meaning clients will be restricted to just half a dozen each.

The 14-hectare property in southern Oakville, Napa Valley, was bought by Moueix in 2008 and was formerly part of the Charles Hopper Ranch.

It is located just a mile north of the more famous Moueix-owned estate Dominus in Yountville.

Planted on mineral-rich alluvial soil at the foot of the Mayacamas Range very similar to Dominus, the climate is nonetheless described as being more ‘continental’.

Edouard Moueix has described the wine as being, “stylistically different from Dominus, it is a wine with more freshness and higher tannic level.”

For the moment the wine is being made at Dominus as there is currently no winery at Ulysses – a farmhouse, a barn and a water tower being the only buildings on the property.

The 2012 is a blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Cabernet Franc and 6% Petit Verdot. Corney & Barrow’s own tasting note mentions the wine’s “polish” and “texture” as well as its “fine delineation” and “beautifully extracted tannins”.

“A terrific first vintage of a wine which is surely set to become a standard-bearer,” it concludes.

The 2013 is also now in bottle and will be released at a later date.