An intense bouquet reveals fruity aromas of blackberry, raspberry and plum, with hints of licorice, thyme, vanilla and cherry. The palate is beautifully balanced, offering layers of dark fruit and chocolate-covered blueberries, accompanied by subtle notes of herbs, cedar and mineral complexity. Silky-smooth tannins give the finish impressive depth and long-lasting elegance.
95 POINT
James Suckling
Fruit- and spice-driven, with aromas of blackberry compote, cigar box, cloves and violets. The palate is full-bodied with seamless tannins and integrated acidity, showing notes of blood plums, blueberries and graphite.
94 POINT
Robert Parker
The 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve is a barrel sample of 77% Cabernet Sauvignon and 23% Petit Verdot maturing for 16 months in 50% new French oak and is due to be bottled in the spring of 2024. The nose offers wild berry fruit streaked with graphite and nuances of truffle, forest floor and oak spices. The full-bodied palate is highly concentrated and floral, with approachable, clay-textured tannins, satisfying bursts of acidity and a long, perfumed finish.
About DAOU
It all began when Joseph and Marie Daou married in Lebanon. At the time, Beirut was known as the Paris of the Middle East—a modern, cosmopolitan city—and Joseph Daou ran one of the most successful furniture companies in the region. This is where Daniel grew up, together with his brother Georges and their two sisters, Marie Jo and Michelle. After many visits to their grandfather’s olive groves, the children developed a love for a rural way of life.
In 1973, civil war broke out, and a missile struck the pavement outside the family home, sending shrapnel through the house. After two years of repairs—both physical and psychological—the war escalated, and the family fled to France. Cannes became their destination, and it was there, surrounded by vineyards, that Daniel and Georges discovered their love of wine.
In the early 1980s, they moved to the United States and started a computer company, far from vines and terroir. It wasn’t until 1998, when the brothers sold the company, that an old dream with roots in France took over: it was time to found a winery. The brothers searched for the best terroir for Cabernet Sauvignon and found DAOU Mountain—a mountain the Russian oenologist André Tchelistcheff had called a jewel decades earlier. In the years after Prohibition in the U.S., he was one of the country’s most influential winemakers, so the brothers took this seriously. They purchased the old Hoffman Mountain Ranch, which had produced fine wines with the help of Tchelistcheff, and restored it.
On the mountain, they found soils similar to those in Saint-Émilion—limestone and calcareous clay—ideal for Cabernet Sauvignon and other Bordeaux varieties. The mountain features slopes of up to 56% gradient and is cooled by the nearby Pacific Ocean. In true American fashion, the brothers don’t hide their light under a bushel: they call the climate the best in the world for Bordeaux varieties and Cabernet Sauvignon—better even than Bordeaux.
