Winemaker Notes
Aromatically the wine is full of ripe red and blackberries, fine potpourri, and flowers. On the palate the wine is riddled with black pepper, deliciously smooth mixed fruit flavors, and a lingering smokey finish.
Blend: 34% Grenache, 31% Syrah, 30% Mourvèdre, 3% Graciano, 2% Viognier
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A spicy and earth-driven nose with aromas of dark cherries, tobacco leaves and cassia bark. The palate is full-bodied with finely integrated tannins and bright acidity, showing complex notes of mulberries, graphite, blood plums and herbs de Provence. 34% grenache, 31% syrah, 30% mourvedre, 3% graciano and 2% viognier. Will age and soften over time. Drinkable now, but best from 2028.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2022 Côte A Côte checks in as a mix of close to equal parts Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre, along with splashes of Graciano and Viognier. Brought up in a combination of oak, amphora, and concrete, it shows the more upfront, ripe, perfumed style of the vintage beautifully and offers both red and black fruits, some peppery, meaty, gamey, iron-like nuances, medium to full body, ripe, polished tannins, terrific balance, and lots of upfront charm. It's another beautifully balanced, layered, already impossible to resist effort.
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Vinous
The 2022 Côte a Côte is a savory beast, mixing New World fruit with Old World flair, as notes of crushed stone, underbrush, olive and dark chocolate complicate dried blueberries. This is seamlessly silky with juicy acidity and an opulent core of wild berry fruit while maintaining fantastic harmony throughout. A tinge of blood orange adds to the 2022s energetic personality as hints of tart blackberry mingle with sweet tannins, creating a lovely framework. The Côte a Côte is a perfectly balanced blend of 34% Grenache, 31% Syrah, 30% Mourvèdre, 3% Graciano and 2% Viognier.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Côte a Côte is 34% Grenache, 31% Syrah, 30% Mourvèdre, 3% Graciano and 2% Viognier aged in a mixture of new and one-year-old French oak, amphora and concrete. The nose is a pleasing combination of herbal, savory and plush, with bramble, black cherry, lavender and anise aromas. The texture is svelte, polished and concentrated, yet it leads to a hard-edged finish driven by a rugged structure of stems and edgy oak tannins. This needs softening and integration and would be best left in the cellar for a few years after release.
L'Aventure was founded in 1998 by a French winemaker, Stephan Asseo. After Stephan graduated enology school in Burgundy, the Asseo family bought their first estate, Domaine de Courteillac, in the Bordeaux area in 1982. Later, the family purchased additional properties: Chateau Robin and Chateau Fleur-Cardinale in Saint-Emilion. Stephan raised these properties to a level of great quality, while managing some other well-established domaines such as Chateau Guillot-Clauzel in Pomerol and Chateau Corbin in St Emilion.
Stephan saw in the New World a unique opportunity to expand his experience, while gaining more freedom in viticulture and vinification. He began by looking all over California for land, including Napa/Sonoma and Santa Barbara counties, but it was the terroir and climate of Paso Robles that impressed him the most.
L'Aventure is located on the west side of Paso Robles in the Willow Creek District. The 127-acre property with 57 acres planted, is comprised of multiple hills of various elevation and complex soils. Because of its proximity to the ocean, the vineyard has clear warm days and drastic cool nighttime temperatures which increases the time of the grape’s maturation cycle providing fruit that creates a more complex and balanced wine. Stephan’s choice of this lean terroir provides him with the fruit necessary to create wine with a good balance between alcohol and acidity. The resulting wines are full and rich yet well balanced and elegant.
With bold fruit flavors and accents of sweet spice, Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre form the base of the classic Rhône Red Blend, while Carignan, Cinsault and Counoise often come in to play. Though they originated from France’s southern Rhône Valley, with some creative interpretation, Rhône blends have also become popular in other countries. Somm Secret—Putting their own local spin on the Rhône Red Blend, those from Priorat often include Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. In California, it is not uncommon to see Petite Sirah make an appearance.
Growing on high elevation bedrock slopes, the vineyards of Paso Robles Willow Creek AVA sit at between 960 and 1,900 feet in elevation.