2016 L'Aventure Estate Cuvee
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Tasting notes
Plump, sleek and rich blackberry and black cherry fruits, layered with cocoa bean and a dusting of cocoa powder. This has texture, and length, and is fully integrated at six years old, but will continue to age for another decade from here. Dried tobacco and spice show not only the heat of the summer (harvest was around two weeks earlier than average in 2016), but also helps balance out the palate from getting too sweet. A kick of pencil lead comes in on the finish. Michel Rolland consultant. 100% new French oak, from 12 different coopers.
Critic scores
Average Score
William Kelley, Wine Advocate
The Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
A wine that flirts with perfection is the 2016 Estate Cuvée, which is 52% Syrah, 32% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the balance Petit Verdot, all of which spent 15 months in new French oak. Deep ruby/purple-colored, with a masculine bouquet of crème de cassis, graphite, liquid rock-like minerality, and lead pencil shavings, it reminds me of a top 2010 Pomerol with its opulence, power, and purity. Hitting the palate with full body, a layered, seamless, multi-dimensional texture, and present yet polished tannins, this beauty is one of the finest examples of this cuvée yet produced. Give bottles 2-3 years and it will keep for 15+. Consistently thrilling wines come from l’Aventure, which is run with incredible talent and passion by St. Emilion native Stephan Asseo. His 2016s are incredible efforts, and the 2017 more Rhône blends are certainly in the same ballpark. Due to the heat spikes at harvest, Bordeaux varieties were much more difficult and hit or miss.
Vivid purple. A highly complex bouquet evokes ripe dark fruit, exotic spices and flowers, along with suggestions of incense, vanilla, pipe tobacco and candied licorice. Stains the palate with deep-pitched dark berry liqueur, spicecake and rose pastille flavors sharpened by a late jolt of juicy acidity. Impressively concentrated but lively too, showing superb delineation on the floral-accented finish, which is framed by dusty tannins that are quickly absorbed by the wine's dense fruit.
The 2016 Estate Cuvee reveals a youthful bouquet of crème de cassis, ripe plums, licorice, pencil shavings and anise, framed by a generous application of creamy, spicy new oak. On the palate, it's full-bodied, ripe and heavily extracted, clamping down on the tongue and gums with an impenetrable wall of firm, chewy tannin that makes it hard to read. It's a bit too soon after bottling to truly get a handle on this, so I've given it a hesitant bracketed score. It's a blend of 52% Syrah, 32% Cabernet Sauvignon and 16% Petit Verdot that was matured in 90% new oak.
About the producer
L’Aventure is one of the leading wine estates in Paso Robles, California. It was founded by Stephan Asseo and his wife Beatrice who left their native France in 1997 in search of a place to make wine without the restrictions of France’s appellation system.