2017 Daou Chardonnay Reserve Paso Robles

This is one of the most exciting new projects to ever come out of Paso Robles in the last ten years, the vineyards were planted in 2007 and they now have 212 acres, the two Daou brothers were in the tech business before the wine business, retired at 34 and they looked around the world for a terroir and fell in love with this part of California. They planted very dense with 2600 vines per acre and they drop 80% of the fruit to get the crop down to under 1 ton per acre, this is a legacy to the Daou winery, 3rd leaf was 2010 and they have been getting great recognition in the press. Robert Parker Jr. gave them 96 points on the "Soul of the Lion" so they are off to a running start.

Paso Robles is bigger than both Napa and Sonoma put together and there is a lot of clone 8 Cabernet Sauvignon planted here. The brothers are also active in the Paso Robles Cabernet Collective, which was created to promote the wines of this upcoming wine region and they hired a PR group to bring more attention and recognition to Paso Robles wines. They combine French old world wine techniques with new world wines, the soils here are 100% calcarious limestone similar to Saint Emilion, they keep barrels at 50 degrees and they do not acidulate, using only minimal sulfides. The 2017 Reserve Chardonnay has a very forward California chardonnay nose, very rich bouquet of aromas with ripe tropical fruit, vanilla bean spice, creme custard, they make only 12,000 cases total production, only 700 cases of the reserve Chardonnay, cinnamon spice, very nuanced. Rich and creamy on the tongue with an array of tropical fruit, a good hand of toasty oak spice and this wine has lovely freshness and balance through the finish and even better on the second day. Finish 45+ Most Excellent