Stockist/Retailer: Hedonism Wines

(2025) Everything - everything - about this wine is massive, from the price, to the 15.2% alcohol, to one of the heaviest bottles I've ever encountered. None of those are plus points for me, and yet there is no denying what an exemplary wine this is of its hedonistic, plush, sumptuous style. Do not come here for subtlety or restraint, but if a symphony of glossy fruit, mocha coffee oak, and 'gobs of everything' is your bag, this is a quite some example. The Lebanese Daou family left everything behind after a rocket struck their family home in the 1973 civil war. Brothers Georges and Daniel were children at the time, and both were badly injured in the incident. The family fled Lebanon, relocating to Bordeaux, were the brothers eventually made their fortune as engineers. The dream to make wine then took them to California, and the rugged mountains of Paso Robles, where the land that is the Daou estate was purchased in 2007. This top wine, Soul of a Lion, is named in honour of their father who gave up a successful life in Lebanon to protect his family. The 2022 comes from their limestone hillside, and is 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, along with 15% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. It spent 22 Months in 100% new French oak.

(2025) It's always fascinating to taste a great wine over many years, my first tasting note on this dating from 2001, and here we are with a bottled cellared by me for over 25 years, and my last from half a case. Cork is firm, and the wine threw some sediment in the final centimetre. It is immediately aromatic and heady on the nose, wonderful game, tobacco and cedar with a rich mulberry fruitiness, hints of dried blood and some undergrowth coming through. In the mouth it is firm and still juicy, the black fruit is taut, with cedar and smoke swirling around it, a curranty, dried fruit edge of intensity. Tannins are very fine and now in the background, but the balance is perfect, with acidity of bitter orange and plum skin. Would guess this is on a plateau with a few years still to go.

(2025) Eight months maturation in new oak barriques for this white Merlot, apparently winemaker Guido Brivi setting out to make a Burgundian-style white wine. Made from gently pressing Merlot, it has a tinge of pink to the colour. From quartz and granite soils, it is fermented and matured in new French oak barriques for eight months. It certainly wears the oak quite lightly, adding an earthy nuttiness to fairly neutral, apple fruit. On the palate it is balanced and really quite concentrated, the oak showing up as a light spice and vanilla edge. It's a nice wine, but the price is problematic.

(2025) From extremely steep slops in the Lavaux AOC of the Vaud region, this Chasselas is aged for a year in bottle before release to develop the creamier side of the variety. Aged 10 months in steel tanks, with full malolactic fermentation. The producer suggests a drinking window of up to 20 years. This 2022 is a pale yellow colour. The nose is nutty and appley, a subtle green herb or floral nuance is there, and a hint of honey. The palate is full and rich - almost feeling sweet on the mid-palate, but the powerful acidity and a hint of almost a tannic quality, certainly a broad leesiness, gives this an intensity. A very substantial white wine.

(2025) This highly aromatic but supple and polished Syrah cones from soils of schist and glacial moraine in the 'Rhône Supérieur', the upper Rhône above Lake Geneva. Maturation for 24 months in French barriques, 50% new, has given a sumptuous depth of mocha and cocoa, a spike of white pepper, and taut glossy black fruit, floral highlights illuminating the rich and darker character. Sweet and supple fruit on the palate is dark, spicy and so suave, buffed by the oak and creamy tannins, acid perfectly balancing into a long spicy and fruity finish.

(2025) A red wine produced from the indigenous grape, Cornalin, locally known as 'Rouge du Pays'. It spent a year in large oak barrels and casks and comes from one of the driest spots in the Valais. Cornalin is said to have a capricious nature, but with similarities to Cabernet Franc, Gamay and Pinot Noir. This pours quite a bold crimson, and strikes me as particularly sappy and Beaujolais-like, with kirsch and cherry and that fresh-snapped twig sappiness. In the mouth it is really vivacious, the burst of spicy cherry fruit fills the mouth, and while tannin is modest, it and the acid backbone gives this it's structure and grip. The mid-palate fruit is juicy and the finish is bone dry.

(2025) Created in 2009, this is Château Minuty’s signature wine made in limited quantities. The 2024 is 80% Grenache, 10% Cinsault, 5% Syrah and 5% Rolle from the three main terroirs (schist, clay and sand) in Minuty’s estate vineyards. It is beautifully presented to show off its pale and light coral colour, sweet cherry and confectionery notes of youth with some delicate blossom characters. The palate is refined and dry, just a tiny bit of grip that plays against the downy peach and pulpy strawberry, as does the quite serious core of acidity that sweeps into the finish to give this a little chew and gastronomic appeal.

(2025) 'G' comes in a new, super-lightweight and recycled glass bottle that is estimated to reduce the carbon footprint of shipping the wine by 50%. A blend of 60% Grenache, 15% Cinsault, 10% Rolle, 10% Syrah and 5% Tibouren, it is pale peach in colour and made in a very fresh style. Citrus and strawberry combine to give both crispness and a bit of fruity charm, with peach on the mid-palate then more citrus and crunchy apple acidity draw out the quite powerful, textured finish.

(2025) This luxuriously packaged high-end rosé comes sealed with wax in a beautiful embossed bottle. It is a serious wine in a way, it's winemaking in both French oak barrels and steel, aged on the lees with bâttonage for the barrel-fermented component, ensuring some longevity. The blend is 45% Grenache, with 18% Rolle, 20% Syrah and 17% Tibouren - a Provence native variety that the estate says is its 'signature variety'. The dark brown glass of the bottle will protect against light-strike, but the wine is a pale and pretty colour. Oak is not obvious on the nose, other than a creamy sheen of almond or light vanilla over small red berry fruit. The mouth has texture, lovely fruit and some spice, perhaps a touch of spicy oak tannin adding an extra dimension. Perfect balance in an impressive, if expensive wine.

(2024) Intended as a wine with ageing potential, this is a blend of 30-year-old Cabernet Sauvignon and 75- to 95-year-old Monastrell, farmed organically and made in collaboration with New Zealand winemaker Chris Ringland. It is aged 22 months in barrels, mostly French with some American oak. Balsamic, fudge-like and vanilla-laden, there's such a depth of cassis and glossy black cherry. The nose suggests a sumptuous palate and that is precisely what's delivered: liquidised plums, blackcurrants and spices layered with 90% cocoa black chocolate, the texture so creamy. Hedonism written unapologetically large, and quite something.