Winemaker Notes
With an inky ruby color, the 2020 Caves des Lions offers elegant aromas of chocolate-covered espresso beans with nuanced layers of blueberries, savory notes of charcuterie, pipe tobacco, and woodsmoke. This festival of flavors continues on the palate with notes of fresh fruit, cayenne pepper, plum jam, and pomegranate. The bold tannins seamlessly balance the fresh and rounded acidity leading to an unwavering finish. This full-bodied and flawlessly intricate wine will surprise you now with its elegance, and later with its longevity.
Blend: 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Inviting aromas of black and blue fruits with violets, cedar, crushed stones and graphite. A little minty, too. The impressive, compact tannin structure gives depth to the wine, so fine and polished with some chalky texture to it. Stony minerality. Power and delicacy, simultaneously. 65% cabernet sauvignon and 35% cabernet franc. Really long and precise.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2020 Caves Des Lions comes from vines around the winemaker's house and is a mix of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc brought up in new oak. Its inky hue is followed by a great nose of chocolatey dark fruits, espresso, Asian spices, tobacco, and earth. Full-bodied on the palate, it has notable purity of fruit and a great finish, with plenty of tannins.
Range: 94-96 -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Caves des Lions is a blend of 52% Cabernet Sauvignon and 48% Cabernet Franc. It matured for 22 months in 100% new French oak and was bottled in December of 2022. It's somewhat rustic and muted on the nose, with a dense core of fruit and wafts of tar and woodsmoke. The full-bodied palate is rustically styled with loads of chewy tannins, rounded acidity and a woodsmoke-laced finish.
An ecological gem rising from the hills of the ascendant Adelaida District in California’s Paso Robles AVA, Patrimony Estate is blessed with exceptional terroir and the extraordinary conditions to create powerfully elegant wines that rival the world’s best Bordeaux producers.
Patrimony Estate is the creation of brothers Daniel and Georges Daou, proprietors of DAOU Vineyards & Winery. Hailing from Lebanon by way of Paris, France, Daniel and Georges moved to the United States as young men and soon achieved success in business. But that was just the beginning. They had a fearless goal—to produce wines that rival the best in the world, and to curate a lifestyle to match. From terroir to winemaking to architecture, they leave no detail unexplored. They have fulfilled that goal with Patrimony.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
