Last week’s Park City Wine Festival 2022 was chock full of great wines, spirits, ciders, beers, and more. One of my favorite stops during the Fest was to sample great wines and chat with representatives from California’s Daou Vineyards, a family-owned winery based in California’s Adelaida District in Paso Robles. 

The Daou story is a very interesting one, covering numerous continents. I’ll let the Daou family tell it: “As children growing up in Beirut, Georges, Daniel, and their sisters, Marie Jo and Michelle, fell in love with the rural way of life during visits to their grandfather’s ancient olive groves. Their childhood was steeped in Lebanese traditions of generous hospitality, family values, and faith. But in 1973, their world was turned upside down. A missile, fired to begin the Lebanese civil war, struck the sidewalk in front of the Daou family home sending shrapnel tearing through the house. For two years, the family rebuilt and recovered from serious injuries, but when the war escalated in 1975, Joseph and Marie made the courageous and difficult decision to save the family, leave everything behind, and move to France to give their children peace and hope for a brighter future. The family emigrated to Paris and, later, Cannes in the south of France. In France, Joseph developed a passion for wine, and it was here, surrounded by vineyards and centuries of winemaking tradition, that Georges and Daniel first dreamt of a life in wine.”

“Brothers Georges and Daniel Daou set forth across the globe to find an unrivaled terroir for producing Cabernet Sauvignon – a quest that led them to a place of foretold greatness. The moment the Daou brothers first set eyes on this staggering mountain overlooking the Adelaida District in Paso Robles, they recognized it as the place they always imagined. It was precisely here, in the early 1970s, that renowned winemaking authority André Tchelistcheff spoke of great things to come, as he saw immense potential in the mountain’s calcareous clay soils, soaring elevation and phenomenal climate. Then known as Hoffman Mountain Ranch, this property produced notable wines for many years and was widely considered the birthplace of modern winemaking in Paso Robles.” In short, the Daou’s went on to create world-class, award-winning wines that, thankfully, are available here in Utah. Well some of them, at least. 

I could go on and on about the Daou’s commitment to stewardship of the land, their proprietary yeast, Daou’s unique phenolic system, their custom French oak barrels, and so on. But you can read about that on their website. 

If there is a single Daou wine you need to get your lips around, it’s Soul of a Lion Cabernet Sauvignon, a blockbuster wine that was giving a whopping 97+ points by Robert Parker and is an extraordinary example of a well-balanced, well-structured, elegant and powerful Bordeaux-style wine. 

For a more affordable introduction to Daou Cabernet Sauvignon, give Daou Cabernet Paso Robles a try. Priced at a mere $24.99, this is an amazing bang for your wine buck. Part of Daou’s Discovery collection, it is smoky and rich on the palate, with blackberry, cherry and chocolate aromas. On the tongue, dark fruits take center stage – currants, cherries, and blackberries, along with hints of fig and thyme. 

Picking a favorite Daou Vineyard wine is sort of a Sophie’s Choice dilemma. There is so much quality to choose from. I mean, for just over 20 bucks it’s hard to beat Discovery Rosé, but Bodyguard Chardonnay is terrific, too. And it’s hard not to love Daou Pessimist, an intense blend of Petite Sirah, Zinfandel, Syrah, and Lagrein. In short, you can’t really go wrong no matter which Daou Vineyard wine you decide to open. 

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THIS CONTENT IS FROM UTAH BITES NEWSLETTER.

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Originally trained as an anthropologist, Ted Scheffler is a seasoned food, wine & travel writer based in Utah. He loves cooking, skiing, and spends an inordinate amount of time tending to his ever-growing herd of guitars and amplifiers.

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