Winemaker Notes
The 2019 Soul of a Lion is a blockbuster vintage that showcases how Bordeaux varieties are remarkably suited to the terroir of DAOU Mountain. This wine explodes from the glass with a kaleidoscope of aromas and flavors, including blackberry, blueberry, black currant, dark cherry, sweet tobacco, and licorice. An added floral dimension imparts an integrated sense of elegance and freshness. While full-bodied with ultra-high phenolic levels, this wine maintains its evenness and poise through an extraordinarily long finish. Structured, balanced, and powerful, the 2019 Soul of a Lion will reveal its full magnitude after several years of careful cellaring.
Blend: 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc, 10% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Soul Of A Lion is a blend of free-run Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot, aged 22 months in 100% new French oak. Opaque ruby in color, it offers aromatic contrast between dark, savory cherry fruit, chargrill and graphite, and top notes of green pepper and rose petals. The palate explodes with detailed flavors and its tannins are already resolved and chocolaty, with seamless acidity and exotic spicy layers emerging on the extended finish. Wow!
Rating: 97+ -
Decanter
A luscious meditation wine with a long life ahead. On the nose, a harmonious dance of dark black fruits, chocolate, sweet vanilla and a marked earthiness. Flavours of blackberry compote, black cherry and tobacco leaf interplay with the firm tannins to deliver a rich, full-bodied, complex wine to be enjoyed either on its own as a main course in itself or with an equally memorable meal.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Always a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot that's brought up in new barrels, the 2019 Soul Of A Lion sports a dense purple hue as well as a beautiful nose of pure crème de cassis, currants, chocolate, crushed stone, and tobacco. It's rich and full-bodied, with a voluptuous texture, beautiful tannins, and a great finish.
Range: 94-96
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: Daniel Daou, Proprietor & Winemaker, states, "We have challenged ourselves to produce Cabernet Sauvignon that will rival the greatest." His brother George Daou comments, "We will stop at nothing less than producing the perfect Cabernet Sauvignon in steadfast service to DAOU Mountain and its incomparable terroir." The 2019 DAOU Soul of a Lion Cabernet Sauvignon is a magnificent wine. It offers incredible power and elegance in its aromas and flavors of blackberries, sandalwood, and the right amount of oak. Give it time in the cellar and pair it with a grilled, well-marbled ribeye topped with diced shallots. (Tasted: September 17, 2022, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Enthusiast
Toasted espresso bean, charred walnut shell and seared meat aromas ride atop a dark cassis tone, all contributing to the portrait of a brooding wine. That classic toasty, woody element spreads through the palate, as dark cocoa dust sprinkled across rich berry sauce flavors get a light pop of mint on the finish.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
