Daou Estate Collection Cabernet Sauvignon 2022
Daou Estate Collection Cabernet Sauvignon 2022
I tasted this on a visit to Paso Robles/California, from which this wine hails. Daou is owned now by Treasury Wine Estates. It's made with 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Petit Verdot, and 4% Cabernet Franc. It sees 80% new French oak according to the winery website though my notes – from sitting next to the winemaker at dinner – were that it saw 50% new French. Not that it matters, and I'm probably wrong.
It's a sinewy, tannic wine. It tastes of currants and cherries, peanuts and pencils, graphite and leather, along with aromatic herbs. "Approachable luxury experience", is how it was described by the winemaker. And sitting there as the sun faded over the hills that's pretty much how it felt. It's an overdone style – too much oak – but it's also quite surprisingly tannic, and for all of its oak and ambition it remains drinkable, and enjoyable, and seductive. 92 points.
