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2022 L'Aventure Cote a Cote Red Blend Paso Robles 3pk 3x750ml

96 points from James Suckling, and the first Côte à Côte ever to include a white grape.

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2022 L'Aventure Cote a Cote Red Blend Paso Robles 3pk 3x750ml

96 points from James Suckling, and the first Côte à Côte ever to include a white grape.

Retail $420
$386.97
$128.99 / bottle when you buy the 3-pack
You save $33.03
  • 96 Point Paso Robles Rhône Blend
  • "Already Impossible to Resist" ~Jeb Dunnuck
  • 100% Estate Grown, Unfined and Unfiltered
  • From the Producer Who Defined Modern Paso Robles
  • Free Shipping on 12 or More Bottles
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Image of 2022 L'Aventure Cote a Cote Red Blend Paso Robles 3pk 3x750ml 2022 L'Aventure Cote a Cote Red Blend Paso Robles 3pk 3x750ml
$420
$386.97
$128.99 / bottle when you buy the 3-pack
You save $33.03

About The Wine

Stephan Asseo left Bordeaux because the rules bored him. That's the whole origin story, and it explains everything in this bottle.

He owned three estates over there — Domaine de Courteillac, Château Robin, Château Fleur Cardinale — and by the mid-90s he'd had enough of AOC law telling him what to plant and how to blend it. He spent a year looking at wine regions around the world. He landed on the west side of Paso Robles in 1997: calcareous shale packed with ancient marine sediment, hot days, cold nights, and nobody to tell him no. L'Aventure started in 1998.

Côte à Côte is his Southern Rhône, rebuilt in California. Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre in near-equal thirds — 34/31/30 — with 3% Graciano and 2% Viognier finishing the blend. That Viognier is new. 2022 is the first Côte à Côte to bring a white grape into the mix, and you can smell it in the lift on the nose. Every grape is estate-grown at yields that border on stubborn: one ton per acre for the Mourvèdre.

Eighteen months of aging, split across new and one-year-old French oak, amphora and concrete. The clay and cement are the point — they keep the fruit vibrant where all-new oak would sit on it. No fining, no filtering. It's open for business tonight, and the winery's own drink window runs twenty-plus years. Both of those are true at once, which is rare.

This is the bottle I pull when somebody tells me California can't do restraint. Pour it with lamb, give it an hour open, and let it make the argument itself.

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At A Glance

Varietal:
Grenache (Garnacha)
Region:
Paso Robles
Sub-Appellation:
Paso Robles
Size:
750ml

TASTING NOTES

What's in the Glass

PAIRS WITH
Lamb · Ribeye · Ribs

Mouthfeel & Acidity

Light Body Full Body
 
 
 
 
 
Low Acidity High Acidity
 
 
 
 
 
Soft Tannins Firm Tannins
Dry Sweet

34% Grenache, 31% Syrah, 30% Mourvèdre, 3% Graciano, 2% Viognier — the first Côte à Côte to include a white grape.

Nose: Spicy and earth-driven. Dark cherry, tobacco leaf and cassia bark, with crushed stone, violets and a floral lift off the Viognier.

Palate: Full-bodied but never heavy. Mulberry, blood plum, dried blueberry and blackcurrant, framed by graphite and herbes de Provence. Peppery, faintly gamey, with polished tannins and bright acidity holding the whole thing upright.

Finish: Long, savory and mouthwatering.

Aged 18 months: 35% one-year-old French oak, 33% new French oak, 19% amphora, 13% concrete. Unfined, unfiltered. Serve at 62–65°F; decant an hour.

CRITIC REVIEWS

What the Critics Said

"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." ~ 96 James Suckling

"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." ~ 94 Jeb Dunnuck

"Extremely floral on the nose, so perfumed and lively. Very expressive and open. Roses, iris, peony with black cherry and plum notes. Seductive and spiced, so smooth and juicy, this really is effortless. Lots of cherry, baked strawberry, blackcurrant and cooling blueberry fruit. Crystalline and pure, this is gorgeous, sapid and mouthwatering but elongated vertically where there’s layers of freshness, fruit and minerality. Some spiced and herbal aspects too. I love this, really excellent and so easy to like. Refined, plenty of character and confidence. Ends lifted and so long, really leaves a moreish aspect. Ageing 18 months; 33 one year old barrels, 33 new French oak, 19% amphora, 13% concrete with malolactic fermentation in barrels. No fining or filtering. 3% Graciano and 2% Viognier - the first time the blend includes white grapes - complete the mix." ~ 94 Decanter

"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." ~ 94 Vinous Media

THE PRODUCER

L'Aventure

Stephan Asseo made wine in Bordeaux for 17 years before the rules of the appellation system drove him to look elsewhere. After a worldwide search, he and his wife Beatrice landed in the westside hills of Paso Robles in 1998, founding L'Aventure on 127 acres in what is now the Willow Creek District — limestone soils, big diurnal swings, and the freedom to blend Bordeaux and Rhône varieties his own way.

The estate is farmed at very low yields (about 2.5 tons per acre), and the wines — Estate Cuvée, Optimus, and a string of small-lot blends — have made L'Aventure one of the most acclaimed producers in Paso Robles, with top scores from Jeb Dunnuck, James Suckling, and the Wine Advocate vintage after vintage.

L'Aventure

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