Cabernet in California’s Rhône heartland: Daou Estate

The Daou estate is striving to produce a Cabernet Sauvignon-based ‘California first-growth’ in a region known for Rhône varietals.

It’s a challenge, but success can only be positive for Paso Robles as a whole.

Although the region’s heritage is with Zinfandel and it has come to be known for its Syrah and Grenache, those varieties each account for less than 10% of the area under vine here. Cabernet Sauvignon is more than 50%.

The property, formerly known as Hoffman Mountain Ranch and now called Daou Mountain, is in the north-western corner of the greater Paso Robles area, the Adelaida District AVA.

Brothers Georges and Daniel Daou founded the estate in 2007 after establishing and later selling a public healthcare software company. Their aim was to take on the world’s greatest Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines from a terroir other than Bordeaux or Napa.

From their birthplace in Lebanon, upbringing in France and entrepreneurial success in California, the brothers set their sights high and spared no expense in their aim.

The site they chose for the project is unique. The clay topsoil, limestone subsoil, high elevation and the influence of the nearby Pacific is unseen elsewhere in California.

This ‘jewel of ecological elements’, as André Tchelistcheff – the father of American winemaking – once put it, sits in a cool pocket of the Adelaida District.

‘We typically average five days of 100°F (37.8°C) a year on our mountain. Downtown Paso sees 30 to 40 days a year over 100°F,’ says winemaker Daniel Daou.

The Daous embrace the use of modern technology throughout the winemaking process. Phenolic ripeness is of particular focus, and monitoring its progress is ‘one way to objectively, not subjectively, look at the quality of a wine or a terroir’, says Daniel.

‘You can actually tell how great a vintage, terroir or wine it is by measuring its phenolics,’ he says. ‘For instance, a good vintage in Bordeaux is going to be darker, more structured and more aromatic.’

To my mind, the wines reflect this by-the-numbers approach, feeling texturally balanced, burnished and uniform.

Matthew Luczy’s top Daou new releases

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