2022 Daou Vineyards Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

Best Daou Reserve ever for Suckling at 95 points:

Fruit- and spice-driven, with aromas of blackberry compote, cigar box, cloves and violets. The palate is full-bodied with seamless tannins and integrated acidity, showing notes of blood plums, blueberries and graphite. Very fresh and balanced, with an underlying elegance that suggests it will age for years to come. Drink or hold.

Outstanding for Dunnuck, Vinous and Decanter, too.

But the Australian Winefront (Campbell Mattinson) may be the most insightful:

This is less expensive than the Estate Collection release but it’s also, for me, the better wine, and the more enjoyable. The balance is better. It’s syrupy, tannic and good. Vanilla, blackberry, spicy peppery characters, dried herbs. The impression here is quite Italianate. It has good persistence through the finish. Indeed this wine – which is a few steps down from the estate’s top releases – is not only characterful, structural and excellent, but was my favourite wine, to drink, of all the Daou wines tasted.