Daou Vineyards Patrimony Caves des Lions Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon 2018

100 Points - rare                                 Daou is making some of the best Cabernets in Paso Robles today. Highly recommended. 98+ Points Robert Parker:  "2018 Caves des Lions is powerful and velvety, a blend of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon and 36% Cabernet Franc made with free-run juice and aged 28 months in 100% new French oak. It needs plenty of air before unfolding to singular aromas of fresh tobacco leaves and mushroom powder, potpourri and bitter chocolate, shifting from savory fruit to stony mineral notes in the glass over time. The cashmere-textured palate offers youthful Morello cherries and spices, kaleidoscopic and persistent, its flavors lingering long after the last sip is gone." 98 Points Jeb Dunnuck: "From vines around the winemaker's house, the 2018 Patrimony Caves Des Lions is 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Cabernet Franc that will see 28 months in new French oak. Lots of smoke tobacco, blackcurrants, chocolate, damp earth, vanilla bean, and Asian spices dominate the bouquet, and it has a pure, already complex style aromatically. Rich, full-bodied, and gorgeously textured on the palate, it's another winner that's going to drink nicely right out of the gate yet also evolve for 15+ years." 97 Points Jeb Dunnuck: "Gorgeous black fruits, chocolate, tobacco, iron, and spicy oak define the 2018 Caves Des Lions, a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Cabernet Franc brought up all in new French oak. Concentrated, full-bodied, flawlessly balanced, and elegant, it has a focused, straight, elegant texture, plenty of structure, and a great finish. It's going to benefit from 2-3 years of bottle age, if not more, and keep for two decades...What can be thought of as the flagship label from the Daou brothers, Patrimony includes four releases – varietal releases of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot, and their Caves des Lions, which is a blend from a vineyard around the home of one of the brothers. These are the real deal and consistently rank with the finest Bordeaux varieties coming out of California today." ...From high up off Adelaida Road, the Daou brothers continue to make a massive lineup of stellar wines. The 2016s are incredibly strong across the board and make the most of this brilliant vintage. In 2017, they opted to wait until after the heatwaves and then do extensive sorting, and this paid off brilliantly and I suspect they’ve made the top Bordeaux blends in the vintage. As I’ve said in the past, these wine compete with the best of Napa Valley and are some of the leading Bordeaux blends from Paso Robles."  ...These notes are the result of a fascinating and extensive tasting with father and daughter team Daniel and Lizzy Daou. As readers may know, Daou's estate vineyards (which emphasizes Bordeaux varieties) are planted at high density on steep slopes in Adelaida District in a site once singled out by the great André Tchelistcheff for its potential. Grown in these soils and in this climate, Daou's vines produce grapes with an extraordinarily high phenolic content, to which the estate's winemaking has gradually adapted. Macerations are very short, with the wines finishing fermentation in barrel, but even so these inky, structured reds don't lack for color or substance. Acidities are healthy, alcohols never in excess of 15%, and the wines are totally dry. I looked at two verticals in the course of my tasting, so I'm also in a position to observe that these wines evolve very slowly. There's no one else making Cabernet Sauvignon like this in Paso Robles." In the golden, oak-studded hills of Paso Robles' fabled west side, not far from William Randolph Hearst's magnificent castle, there is a man with a Homeric vision. His name is Daniel Daou and he is devoting his life and every imaginable resource to creating, first and foremost, a Cabernet Sauvignon that rivals the very best in the world. Gracefully perched atop a stunning promontory at 2,200 feet, the DAOU Spanish Colonial style winery is embraced by a tangible serenity. This kind of synergy happens rarely: superlative climate and terroir, super intensive vineyard culture, and cutting edge viticultural practice. You're more likely to find it in Bordeaux than Central California.

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