DAOU Soul of a Lion 2017

Professional Ratings

• 97 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

  The 2017 Soul Of A Lion is a blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc and 8% Petit Verdot aged 22 months in 100% new French oak. It has a deep ruby-purple color and wonderfully unique expression, with scents of forest floor, underbrush, English breakfast tea, espresso, blackcurrant bud, dark chocolate and exotic flowers mingling over a core of perfectly ripe wild blackberries and Morello cherries, all complemented by a classy framing of new oak spices. The medium to full-bodied palate is slow to unfurl, with a frame like liquid silk and a very long finish that gives up layer after layer of nuanced flavors. Wow!

• 96 Jeb Dunnuck
  Both vintages of the Soul of a Lion are stunning. The 2017 Soul Of A Lion offers a forward, bona fide fruit bomb style yet has plenty of class. A sweet nose of cassis, Asian spice, cedar box, and chocolate gives way to a full-bodied, hedonistic 2017 that stays balanced and layered. This cuvée always delivers and the 2017 is just an incredible drink.
• 95 Wine Enthusiast
  Extremely dark and almost opaque in the glass, this top-shelf bottling shows roasted meat, toasted wood, dark cassis fruit, soy and scorched espresso on the savory nose. The palate is thick, dense and framed in chiseled tannins, offering coffee and bittersweet cacao flavors alongside roasted black cherry, with impressive weight and acid that percolates slowly into the finish.
• 93 Connoisseurs' Guide

  75% Cabernet Sauvignon; 15% Cabernet Franc and 10% Petit Verdot. The Daou brothers have continue to produce some of the finest wines to hail from Paso Robles and have proven over and over again that Napa Valley has no monopoly when it comes to producing Cabernets of the first order. The 2017 Soul of a Lion is just such an example and is a very deep, many-layered, generously fruited wine that deftly manages to combine both power and polish in an invitingly supple package. Notwithstanding the fact that it has the tannic structure to ensure years of age, we have to admit that it is so rich and accessible that we would have no qualms about drinking it in the short term, even if we see in it the stuff to get better with time