DAOU Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2019

After growing up in Beirut, Lebanon, then living in Paris and the South of France as teens and young men, Georges and Daniel moved to California in the early 1980's to pursue their American dream. They both enrolled at UC San Diego and studied Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering. Industrious and driven to succeed, Georges and Daniel followed in their family’s entrepreneurial footsteps and started their own company, DAOU Systems, a networking technology company that would revolutionize hospital computer systems.

In 1998, after taking DAOU Systems public, Georges and Daniel sold the company, and a new dream arose, a dream with its roots in France. For years, Daniel had been making wine in his garage in rural San Diego, tending to a one-acre vineyard of Cabernet Sauvignon, and reading every book he could find about winemaking. He knew he was destined to be a winemaker and knew it was time to start a winery. Everyone told him he was crazy, but with Georges as his business partner, Daniel told his father, “I’m going to buy this property in Paso, and I want to become a winemaker, and I think I can make one of the best wines in the world.” Without hesitation, Joseph said, “Go and don’t look back. Go full throttle.” And Daou was born.

The classically styled 2019 DAOU Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon showcases Paso Robles as a world-class region for Bordeaux-style wines. It opens with a highly perfumed nose of black cherry, mulberry, plum and Oregon blackberry, all underlain by notes of cassis, kirsch, licorice, and crushed gravel. Secondary aromas of dark chocolate, coffee and dried sage reveal an elegant complexity. On the palate, it is powerful, balanced and brimming with layers of fruit and spice. Tempting flavors of Zante currant, boysenberry and black plum anticipate accents of cigar box, mocha, crushed herbs and pencil shavings. Firm, fine-grained tannins provide ample structure to support a lengthy finish of sweet cherry, leather, toasty oak and vanilla crème brûlée. In the end, the 2019 vintage is nothing short of an immensely approachable wine that will age with grace and refinement.