Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Strawberries, peaches, apricots and white flowers on the nose give way to pink grapefruit and red berries on the palate. A refreshing and dynamic Provence-style rosé with elegant vanilla notes from the oak treatment. Food-friendly and versatile.
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Wine Enthusiast
This wine is a shade of cantaloupe, and that fruit shows on the nose of this bottling alongside ripe apple and bubblegum aromas. There’s a firm tension to the palate, where melon flavors are cut by wet stone elements.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2021 DAOU Discovery Collection Rosé is stylish and made in the Provençale style. TASTING NOTES: This wine shines with aromas and flavors of mineral notes, tart raspberries, and savory spices. Enjoy it with fresh, raw salmon and avocado rolls. (Tasted: September 17, 2022, San Francisco, CA)
Whether it’s playful and fun or savory and serious, most rosé today is not your grandmother’s White Zinfandel, though that category remains strong. Pink wine has recently become quite trendy, and this time around it’s commonly quite dry. Since the pigment in red wines comes from keeping fermenting juice in contact with the grape skins for an extended period, it follows that a pink wine can be made using just a brief period of skin contact—usually just a couple of days. The resulting color depends on grape variety and winemaking style, ranging from pale salmon to deep magenta.
Paso Robles has made a name for itself as a source of supple, powerful, fruit-driven Central Coast wines. But with eleven smaller sub-AVAs, there is actually quite a bit of diversity to be found in this inland portion of California’s Central Coast.
Just east over the Santa Lucia Mountains from the chilly Pacific Ocean, lie the coolest in the region: Adelaida, Templeton Gap and (Paso Robles) Willow Creek Districts, as well as York Mountain AVA and Santa Margarita Ranch. These all experience more ocean fog, wind and precipitation compared to the rest of the Paso sub-appellations. The San Miguel, (Paso Robles) Estrella, (Paso Robles) Geneso, (Paso Robles) Highlands, El Pomar and Creston Districts, along with San Juan Creek, are the hotter, more western appellations of the greater Paso Robles AVA.
This is mostly red wine country, with Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel standing out as the star performers. Other popular varieties include Merlot, Petite Sirah, Petit Verdot, Syrah, Grenache and Rhône blends, both red and white. There is a fairly uniform tendency here towards wines that are unapologetically bold and opulently fruit-driven, albeit with a surprising amount of acidity thanks to the region’s chilly nighttime temperatures.