From the crown jewel of DAOU Vineyards, the 2018 Soul Of A Lion, which won’t be released in the United States for at least another week; to the 2017 DAOU Cabernet Sauvignon dessert style wine made in the Port method from Daniel Daou’s personal home cellar; as well as the 2017 Patrimony Cabernet Sauvignon that’s just being released on the market with only limited cases and is nothing short of a blockbuster – made for Uncorked with DAOU Vineyards, a phenomenal first winemaker’s series at Café Boulud at Rosewood at Baha Mar.
It was an intimate guest complement that sat down to indulge in the curated five-course tasting with culinary pairings in Café Boulud’s wine cellar. The event set a benchmark for great wine and phenomenal food pairings.
Executive Chef David LaPage started the evening with canapes – avocado vichyssoise, gougeres and beef tartare with NV Louis Roederer Brut Premier, a full, complex wine that was both rich and powerful, yet complex.
And then the evening progressed to all things DAOU Vineyards which has been to the world by two brothers – George and Daniel Daou – who have promised to be the two best shepherds in both wine and fellowship.
LaPage paired red snapper with watermelon shiso and Fresno pepper with a 2019 DAOU Sauvignon Blanc which proved to be a powerhouse of a wine, even though it’s only the estate’s second vintage of Sauvignon Blanc. It’s a beautiful expression of Sauvignon Blanc. You get a nice pop of pink grapefruit, guava, lime, passionfruit, maybe a little peach. On the palate, it’s dry but not too dry, you get a little acidity. It was simultaneously smooth and lively with an engaging, lingering finish. It paired well with the snapper dish.
Perhaps one of the most perfect pairings of the evening was the king crab with mache, peach, pistachio and saffron with a gorgeous, luscious 2019 DAOU Reserve Chardonnay. The nose bears tropical notes with a full profile of ripe ruby red grapefruit, white peach and a dash of apricot. On the palate, there is a distinct richness.
For the pièce de résistance, LaPage paired a duck cappelletti with bone marrow, black trumpet mushrooms and freshly shaved Australian winter truffle with DAOU’s 2018 Estate Soul Of A Lion, the crown jewel of DAOU – an awe-inspiring, age worthy Cabernet Sauvignon, released early for the wine dinner.
It’s a wine that is rich, elegant, and balanced. Silky, integrated tannins unwind into an impossibly long finish. The vintage is 75 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 15 percent Cabernet Franc and 10 percent Petit Verdot.
Cote de bouef (rib eye) was served family style with summer beans, pomme puree (Paris mash) and sauce bordelaise with a 2017 DAOU Patrimony Cabernet Sauvignon, a majestically dark, mysterious wine that is full-bodied and silky in texture and has a unique feeling on the palate – silky, soft and smooth.
This iconic wine is just releasing into the market and the DAOU representatives pulled strings to get some of it into the country for the wine dinner. You have to get on a wait list for a bottle, so this was definitely a wine lover’s treat.
Café Boulud will also be one of the only, if not the only restaurant, in the Caribbean that will actually list Patrimony. It’s a tiny production batch, so limited cases have been produced.
LaPage rounded out the meal with a vacherin with blueberry, cassis and elderflower paired with 2017 DAOU Fortified Cabernet Sauvignon, a dessert-style wine made in a Port method which can occasionally be found at the vineyard’s winery, but which the vineyard does not make enough of, to sell. Bottles were sent to Daniel Daou’s cellar at his house because he felt the special wine dinner at Café Boulud deserved a special finish.
Ellie Cohn, Café Boulud’s sommelier was delighted to have DAOU wines for the restaurant’s inaugural wine dinner. They have been pouring DAOU wines for a while now, but she was pleased to be able to introduce and showcase the wineries’ new wines.
“DAOU wines are really unique,” said Cohn. “They’re coming from Paso Robles, the site itself is very special – it’s a high elevation site that receives influence from the ocean, so it’s a little colder, than the rest of Paso Robles. The quality of the fruit is very high therefore the quality of the wines is very pristine and truly topnotch. And also, the value of the wines is truly on point.”
She said the dinner appealed to connoisseurs of wine and food.
“Wine and food go hand-in-hand. There is no one over the other. Having wine is having food and having food is having wine, and both together literally the synergy that is created in between the two things is something that none of the two separated could bring to the experience. The experience was absolutely unique and exceptional,” she said.
DAOU representatives, Tony Suarez, director of global accounts, and Josh Lavis, senior director international were present at the event.
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source https://thenassauguardian.com/daou-uncorked/
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