L'Aventure Estate Cuvee 2020
(Paso Robles, California) [WA 99] [JD 98+] [VM 97] [DM 97] [JS 96]

About the Winery:
Stephan Asseo, owner and winemaker at L'Aventure Winery, began making wine in 1982, following his education at L'Ecole Oenologique de Macon, Burgundy, France. In that same year, Stephan established Domaine de Courteillac in Bordeaux. He and his family later purchased Chateau Fleur Cardinal and Chateau Robin in the Cotes de Castillion, Bordeaux. Over the next 15 years, Stephan developed into an artisan winemaker of fastidious craftsmanship and gained a reputation as a maverick vigneron.

In 1998 after searching for over a year among the world's great wine regions for the next chapter in his winemaking career he founded L'Aventure in Paso Robles. The rolling topography of the Santa Lucia Mountain Range, the deep calcareous soils, and the maritime influences of the renowned Templeton Gap all combine to produce a world class wine country, with the potential to craft some of the world's greatest blends.

About the Wine:

The Estate Cuvée blend is made up of predominately Syrah, as well as Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot and entirely estate-grown fruit from L'Aventure Vineyard. The hilly soils are intriguingly complex- due to their proximity to the ocean as the vineyard site is in West Paso Robles. The soils have a top layer of calcareous shale, filled with old marine bones, shells, diatoms, and plankton, with clay, metals, and quartz below. These low-yielding vines are planted at 2.5 tons per acre. After a long growing season, thanks to the region's heavy diurnal shift, the grapes are harvested and undergo alcoholic fermentation in 90% new French oak, followed by full malolactic fermentation. The wine is aged for 15 months in barrel, with no fining or filtration. 

Aromatically the wine is sultry with jammy dark fruits, pencil lead, and violets. On the palate, the wine is smooth, with well-integrated tannins, bright fruit flavors and a balancing kick of minerality. 

Ratings & Reviews

99 Points - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate:
"A blend of 45% Syrah, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Petit Verdot, the 2020 Estate Cuvée is another outstanding wine from L'Aventure in the challenging 2020 vintage, offering singular concentration and elegance. Deep ruby-purple, it has a pure core of cassis and slowly unfolding accents of licorice, cured meats, tobacco leaves, cedar and truffle. Full-bodied, juicy and alluring, it floods the mouth with layers of blue fruit, floral perfume and spice. It is supported by powdery tannins and boasts a tremendously long, detailed finish." - Erin Brooks (Dec 2022)

98+ Points - Jeb Dunnuck:
"The 2020 Cote a Cotes checks in as 45% Grenache, 30% Syrah, and 22% Mourvèdre, with the balance Graciano and Viognier, that was brought up in equal parts barrel, concrete, and amphora. It’s a full-bodied, ripe, sexy wine offering fabulous dark fruits as well as subtle violet and orange blossom aromatics. The balance is spot on, it has terrific purity, and it’s another brilliant wine in the making." (September 2021)

97 Points - Vinous Media:
"A beguiling blend of dusty violets, crushed stone, musky black currants and grilled herbs makes the 2020 Estate Cuvée impossible to ignore. Racy yet supple, this soothes with its ripe red and black fruits while also exciting the palate through a core of zesty acidity. A staining of minerality lingers as the 2020 finishes with epic length and potency. Grippy tannins tug at the perimeters of the palate, leaving nuances of black licorice and clove to resonate. This radiant beauty has a very bright future. It's a blend of 45% Syrah, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Petit Verdot." - Eric Guido (May 2023)

97 Points - Decanter Magazine:
"Dark chocolate, a bit animalistic, so brooding and dark. Sumptuous texture, rich and deep yet vibrant too, this is plush and opulent but there is refinement here, you can feel the sculpting of the fruit and the tannins, there is nuance and detail to the different aspects. It's still quite massy and bold, it's a big style, lots going on with plenty of power and punch but a deliciously bright and lifted understone with acidity to keep it from being too heavy. Strawberry touches, blackberries, cinnamon, pepper, toast, tobacco and cocoa, all melding together with a lingering piquancy that lasts and lasts. A classic and memorable wine. Ageing 15 months in French oak (80% new, 20% one year old)." - GH (Aug 2022)

96 Points - James Suckling:
"Really impressive depth here. Violets, blueberries, blackberries, graphite, ink and chalk to the nose. Rich, voluptuous and flavorful with firm, but silky tannins. Concentrated, restrainedly plush and muscular with a lingering finish that goes on and on. 45% syrah, 40% cabernet sauvignon and 15% petit verdot." (October 2022)