Bought this wine at my local store with a tag that said 94 points (think it said Wine Advocate). Expecting pretty great things I was shocked at how soupy and sweet this wine is. I expect a 94 point wine to have some structure. But it was a higher class version of Menage a Trois… Had a tomatoe juice texture as well. S0 I think something was off with the acid profile. Seems as if the wine was trying to be structured on it’s tangy quality but no real tannins.
Then more to my surprise was searching this wine on this site and seeing many folks putting it at a high QPR level with many saying “so young” and “classic flavors”.
On CellarTracker I saw a few notes mirroring mine and some mirroring the above.
For $25 I don’t expect greatness but I do expect a solid made wine with some decent structure. I tried the 2013 Mondavi Cab and felt that it was solid and sort of what a $25 cab should be. Granted it is not structured enough for my palate but it seemed to be a “real” taste of $25 Cab…
There seems to be more of a consensus to a wine such as 2012 Caymus Cabernet for example. Most folks liken it to cough syrup. That’s how I feel about Daou except a little less body… Could there be bottle variation? I’d like to think that most wine folks have a clear indication of a wine’s tannins, structure, sweetness…
The best Cab I had of late was the 2012 Pride Mtn. Cab. A bit over-priced but enough structure and solid not hyper-ripe fruit. I also had the 2012 Chappellet Pritchard Hill and though that wine has boatloads of tannin and structure and not too over-ripe fruit it also had a rhubarb (tartness) that detracted. Maybe I just didn’t like the fruit profile but I can say it was classic in terms of structure, ripeness, and good full body.
So Chappellet 95 points, Mondavi 90 points, Daou 87 points…
This is an echo of my first, and only, taste of Daou. It was at least 6-7 years ago, and was a more expensive iteration.
I love the wines from Adelaida (HMR Res Pinot, Viking Cab Res, Viking Syrah Res), so I expected to find similar flavors in the much-praised Daou Cabernet. No trace of the cranberry/graphite/chalky notes found in the Adelaida Viking Cab Sauv Reserve. I was just confounded: I might as well have bought the $10 Paso Robles Cabs available in grocery stores…
Mark, we had a similar experience with this wine earlier this year in a group tasting. I bought based on the positive feedback here, but like you, found it to be overly sweet with little structure. Having said that, there were some in the group who did like it pretty well. Here was my note:
The nose is very sweet blue and black fruits with a syrup note. Really sweet/jammy on the palate, blueberries, red current, smooth and easy drinking, almost no tannic structure (compared to all the other wines). Some vanilla and oak notes on the finish. The warmer climate was evident in this one, and contrast to the rest of the wines tasted tonight.
I have had Daou in the past and liked it a lot, but I thought this bottling tasted like grape juice not wine. It is on sale all over, thankfully I tried a bottle before a deep dive.
I have had Dauo a few times and with all but one time it has been a let down. I can’t remember the vintage or specific wine but it seems like it was a '06 or '07 and I know it was one of the higher end bottlings. Pass.
Daou doesn’t press their grapes, they let the weight naturally squeeze the juice out. That would explain the lack of tannins / structure. It certainly is a lighter body than your average Cali Cab too. The good thing is it doesn’t need years of rack time. However, if you’re looking for the backbone and structure that the average Cali Cab has you won’t like Daou. Sweet isn’t the word I’d use to describe it, it just lacks the dryness that young tannic Cabs have. It seems to appeal more to Old World fans. To each his own.
As far as their higher end products, we’ve found their Soul of a Lion to be kind of Phelps-ish.
This is what most high end Napa cabs do, too…sort of. They still put the grapes in the press but after a certain “soft press” the “hard press” juice is kept separate and evaluated separately, sometimes destined for a second wine.
If they’re doing absolutely no pressing that’s a huge waste and it’s no way reflective of a $25 bottle price.
I should have stipulated that they don’t use press juice for the bottling in question. Yes, they do eventually press the grapes, and according to their rep at the dinner we went to they use some in other wines and also sell a lot of it.
Then more to my surprise was searching this wine on this site and seeing many folks putting it at a high QPR level with many saying “so young” and “classic flavors”.
Surprising to hear. I have had many cabs of theirs from 2011 to 2014 entry level to the top tier. I would say there can be some fault on the entry level cab. Sometimes a bit too much oak but a pleasurable wine generally. Never syrupy…as you go up it can be a real pleaser and can compete with equally priced Napa Cabs. I will have to seek this wine out and give it a whirl and see what the fuss is about
I’ll be drinking another bottle of this on vacation this week and next and will report back. This wine seems to sit in the Caymus camp. How The Wine Advocate can give 96 and 95 points to Caymus 2013 and 1012 is quite telling. And how this Daou 2014 can get 92-95 points from critics is crazy. Sweet and unstructured is the goal…
I agree… maybe 89-90 at most, but for less than $25 is not bad. Please tell me of a wine that is not sweet, is structured/complex and not a tannic bomb for less than $25?
These are all Cabs… Hardin and Textbook are both pretty good. 2009 Hagen’s Reserve is really good, but tough to find under $25 - it’s usually $30-ish. 2013 Rutherford Ranch is very nice. Educated Guess is pretty damn good and the cheapest of all the ones I mentioned - it can be found under $19.
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