2015 Daou Mayote
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Tasting notes
There’s were three 2015s that had been in barrel during my visit last year which are now in bottle. The 2015 Mayote is a unique blend of 42% each of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, with the balance Petit Verdot. Now in bottle for close to a year, it offers a dense, concentrated, age-worthy profile as well as classic notes of blackberries, ground pepper, dried herbs, and graphite. It’s beautifully concentrated, has ripe tannin, and will keep for 10-15 years. From high up off Adelaida Road, the Daou brothers continue to make a massive lineup of stellar wines. The 2016s are incredibly strong across the board and make the most of this brilliant vintage. In 2017, they opted to wait until after the heatwaves and then do extensive sorting, and this paid off brilliantly and I suspect they’ve made the top Bordeaux blends in the vintage. As I’ve said in the past, these wine compete with the best of Napa Valley and are some of the leading Bordeaux blends from Paso Robles.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jeb Dunnuck
Josh Raynolds
More reviews and scores
(all new French oak) Bright-rimmed purple. Powerful, smoke-accented aromas of ripe black and blue fruits, violet, pipe tobacco and vanilla are enlivened by a peppery topnote. Smooth, expansive and alluringly sweet, offering concentrated blackberry, cherry cola, mocha and floral pastille flavors underscored by a vibrant mineral quality. At once rich and energetic, finishing with impressive dark fruit thrust, harmonious tannins and persistent florality.
The 2015 Mayote is quite youthfully tight-knit, unwinding in the glass with spicy aromas of dark currants, blackberries, bay leaf and cracked black pepper. On the palate, it's rich, full-bodied and chewy, but the structure is ripe and matched by good concentration and juicy acids, so the only missing ingredient is time.
(100% new French oak): Lurid purple. A powerful, complex bouquet evokes black and blue fruit liqueur, licorice candy and potpourri, along with a hit of sexy oak spices. Coats the palate with ripe cherry and blackberry flavors. A sweet violet pastille nuance lends an exotic touch. Youthful tannins shape a very long, chewy finish that shows serious power and a lingering vanilla note.