Darioush, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley

Drinking beautifully now.

2017 vintage

My second of two bottles. Although provenance on both was a dice-roll (price was too good to pass up), this second bottle was slightly better than my first. Hard to believe Darioush was making 13.9%ABV cab in ‘99. My overarching theme for both bottles is I believe this style of wine was best 7-10yrs after release, not at almost 26yrs of age. Deep red with slight bricking around the rim. Mostly muddled red and black berry fruits with older fig. …

1999 vintage

Smooth, ready to drink now. More structure and balance than many other 2017’s I have tried

2017 vintage

great easy fun with chicken

2012 vintage

Better after 2+ hours Edit: Just tried a second bottle and this one was far better. Updated score, was great on opening evolved as the night went on, probably best at the two to 6 hour mark. Didn’t make it past then.

2017 vintage

Pretty decent wine but easily can age another 10 years ( due to having enough acidity) and I think it should. Nose is pretty much dominant old oak and typical Cab notes On the pallet we have mixture of black fruits and bitter tannins. Nothing tastes sweet in 2025 as other people mentioned in previous reviews. What caused me not to rate it higher was bitterness which still needs time to clear (nothing like intolerable just it could be better) …

1999 vintage

Significant sediments,nearly opaque,chocolate ,leather . Fruit cooked black fruit jam. Soft tannins ,pleasant and lingering finish.

2012 vintage

wonderful great time to drink

2012 vintage

wonderful, east to drink (small amount)

2012 vintage

This is a rich wine with layers of soft fruit that are amply supported by oak - starting to develop some secondary elements, but still dominated by cassis, blackberry, and vanilla.

2012 vintage

big and jammy, dark fruit, opened up quickly.

1999 vintage

great fun to have personally

2012 vintage

Soft tannins and moderate acidity lending to layers of cassis, black cherries, ripe plums, coffee and cedar. Wonderful wine with good complexity and a wonderful mouthfeel and long finish.

2012 vintage

Ready to drink as soon as you open it. Bright and vibrant fruit on the nose. Blue and black fruit with mature tannins on the palate. A bit of smoke and a hint of green pepper. Soft without being floral, this is a wonderful wine.

2017 vintage

lovely place right now, had a magnum to share, started with a 45 -minute restaurant decant before tasting. Cherry fruits. nice warm mouth feel with limited tannins, long beautiful finish. The drinking wind for 750ml is saying 2023, but this larger form factor was in a stupendous place and would have lasted longer, at least 2025.

2012 vintage

Decanted for 1 hr before consuming. Plum and cherry fruit with tobacco and graphite notes. Tannins are present and very smooth, with a bit of heat left from the alcohol. A great wine to be sure

2012 vintage

great with meat fun full body

2012 vintage

This wine packs a punch on the nose with aromas of baking spices, vanilla, black plum, sweet tobacco and menthol. The palate was not left wondering when it came to this wine. Intense notes of blackberries, blackberry jam, black cherries, graphite and black currant. After 11 years in bottle, this wine is kicking on all cylinders. There is plenty of weight on the palate. The first sip, attacks the mid upper palate. Tannins rise to the top and condenses there …

2012 vintage

Very good wine. Well balanced, smooth on the palate. Would highly recommend this.

2017 vintage

Drank both 2013 Stonestreet Christopher’s Vineyard and 2017 Darioush Napa Valley along side a dinner of Waygu ribeye. Stonestreet: opened 2 hours prior to drinking. Nose of plum. Well integrated tannins. Drinking great right now. Pyroxene at the finish. Typical of Sonoma Cabs. We don’t mind it but some of our friends do not like it. Nice long finish. Cassis, jammy on the palate. Compared to the Darioush, more muted and feminine. Darioush: decanted 2 hours prior to drinking. Strong …

2017 vintage

perfect great body

2012 vintage

We decanted for two hours before serving at a dinner party. This was a crowd favorite. Soft and well balanced acidity and tannins. Essence of cedar, pencil lead, black peppercorns, toast and black plums. Layers of ripe plums, dark cherries, licorice, toast and peppercorns. This wine has evolved nicely over the years. Our remaining bottles should be consumed within five years.

2012 vintage

Fantastic wine for Napa cab lovers and definitely recommend despite the price point but probably too expensive to be a reasonable QPR wine. We had it popped & poured tableside at Webb's Custom Kitchen in Gastonia NC and if possible recommend a 60-90 minute decant. Drink or hold - still quite youthful but in a mature drinking window and with proper cellaring this has easily a decade+ to go. Full bodied, well rounded, solid core of fruit, oak and tannins, …

2017 vintage

Leather smoke delicious

2012 vintage

Opened my 9L for dinner with my best friends. Surprised that this large format was already showing some age - glad I didn't wait longer. Fruit and tannins have mellowed. Smooth, integrated, nice finish.

2012 vintage

wonderful over 2 days perfect body amazing with steak.

2012 vintage

wow still drinking big given its vintage! Quick aerated via COravin. Agree w prior reviews. Would benefit from maybe 30-1 hr decant but it's pretty much good to go as PnP.

2012 vintage

Fantastic wine. Could benefit in the cellar for at least 1-3 more years. It was my oats bottle so, I snooze on this one. But over all a great bottle.

2017 vintage

I know this is a high end wine, but the currant bite was too tinny. we let it decant for 2.5 hours, but it never really opened up The wine looks purple colored. It smells like black currant (cassis). It tastes like black currant (cassis), red currant and raspberry. The body is full. The wine has coarse texture. The wine finishes medium. The wine has medium acidity. It is quite complex, but did not do the filet justice

2017 vintage

I agree with Stephan O that you get hints of red hots on the nose. In the mouth is tastes a bit empty with little noticeable tannins and very mild flavors. The finish is light and smooth with a hot cinnamon tart taste. I tried another couple bottles a few months ago and this one is definitely better. I’ll try again in a few months to see if anything changes. A solid wine for the price I paid ($69.99).

2017 vintage

Very big, mouth filling, viscous, fruit-bomb, jammy wine. As new world as it gets. It’s not subtle or nuanced. Heavy lashing of anise/liquorice on the palette. Uncomplicated nose of ripe black and blue fruit. Didn’t get any vanilla from oak surprisingly (thought it used new oak for aging). Reminded me of a Wagner wines at a similar price point - Caymus or Belle Glos Eulenloch. Side Note: The glass bottle is the heaviest I’ve ever seen. It’s a crown pleaser …

2012 vintage

A very nice wine. Opened up nicely. Alot going on here, but ultimately the wine was drinkable from glass 1 to glass 4. :)

2017 vintage

Big powerful wine, but drinking well now. Paired nicely with prime rib.

2012 vintage

Big bold awesome full body and flavor. Long finish.

2017 vintage

This was a big bold flavorful Napa Cab! It drank beautifully with a pot roast meal. I wish I had another in my collection to hold.

2012 vintage

For me, the words that immediately come to mind are "weighty," "dark," and "dense." In that sense, it reminds me a little of a Shafer Relentless Syrah. The fruit is different, though. I get some cinnamon red-hots on the nose and sharp pomegranate on the palate. The finish is really long and herbal. The alcohol is up there at 14.8%, but I don't get any sense of heat. Instead it's cool or sleek or both. Nothing about it is profound, …

2017 vintage

Bonterra wine cellar night. Easy drinking. Dark fruit, very nice.

2017 vintage

beautiful bottle of wine dark ink in color smooth tannins blueberry and leather on the tongue..a multilayered finish that seem to last forever..paired well with a grilled NY strip

2017 vintage

I bought a couple of bottles at a wine tasting at my local wine shop a few years ago. It was my favorite at the tasting. The first bottle was great. But this bottle had lost a lot of the charm. I think I’m learning a lesson about holding bottles too long. I decanted half of the magnum. It took over 2 hours to become acceptable. Since it wasn’t drinking so well, we never got into the last 750 ml. …

2012 vintage

Disclaimer: tasted after a night of Oregon Pino Noir and Pinot Gris . . . This was from a Magnum - Unmistakable cab, dark fruits, blackberry, in a very excellent window if a bit young, long finish, with an incredible perfumed finish - I can’t remember a wine that finished with such flourish of orange blossom and flower. Really impressed me on this evening. I think it can go another decade.

2012 vintage

A nice paring with steak, opened an hr or do before

2012 vintage

Great balance. Tannins are finely integrated with the still present fruit and complimenting acidity. Ruby red color with a plumb, cherry and a whiff of vanilla on the delicate bouquet . Elegantly pleasant finish, making me desire another glass. Paired superbly with rack of lamb. I believe it is at its apex and I will be consuming my last bottles during lock down/ SIP. 92+

2012 vintage

This is one of two 2012's in my cellar, which I purchased after a tasting at the winery in 2016. After I aerated and decanted for 1 hour, I found the wine to be wonderfully smooth--a perfect stand-alone wine--with one of those beautiful finishes that you want to savor forever. After sitting overnight in my capped decanter, I found a less balanced bouquet and a harsher, distinctly tannin finish. My second bottle will be, and I think should be, opened …

2012 vintage

Big napa cab. This wine has a lot of life left. Drink for another 5 years or more.

1999 vintage

Still drinking well

1999 vintage

By the glass. The (elegant) nose does not correspond to the palate (full-bodied) although I suppose that precisely this contrast was what the winery itself was looking for in this wine. Oriental spices mix with fresh fruit in an opulent combination. In the mouth the density, the rich texture, the wood and a grip that refuses to die as it passes through the throat determine the weight of this wine. Surely it has its fans but I am not included …

2017 vintage

New Year's Eve, 2019 Pokai Parera (Pokai Parera, Ekatahuna, New Zealand) : Drunk after a flight of 2001 Bordeaux, this came across as very monolithic, ripe, confectionary and sweet. The nose has some pretty rose and floral aspects and black doris plum fruit, but the overall impression is one of (very sweet, new world) cabernet with lashings of new (and sweet) French oak. The Darioush has aged, but has not really developed, and has certainly not transformed. On the other …

1999 vintage

Chez Berend. Decanted for an hour. Lovely tobacco nose, cedar. The palate is blackberries, oak, mineral. Tannins fully integrated and resolved.

1999 vintage

with air, soft tannins and lingering finish. Blackberries and dark fruit. Love it.

1999 vintage

Black fruits, nice wine, starting to fall off on the the finish.

1999 vintage

Are you sure?

Darioush, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley

Vintages

No vintages

Community Reviews