L'Aventure - Optimus - Paso Robles 2022
L'Aventure Winery: world-renowned blends at Paso Robles
Stephan Asseo, owner and winemaker at L’Aventure Winery, began making wine in 1982. He and his family later purchased Chateau Fleur Cardinal and Chateau Robin in the Cotes de Castillion in Bordeaux. Over the next 15 years, Stephan developed into an artisan winemaker of fastidious craftsmanship and gained a “maverick” reputation. His true desire was to be more innovative than AOC law would allow. In 1996, this led him, and his family, on a journey to pursue his ideal as a winemaker. In 1997, after one year of research, they fell in love with a unique terroir in the west side Paso Robles. And L’Aventure began in 1998!
Optimus is the perfect introduction to L'Aventure's lineup. Also known as their “crazy” Paso blend, Optimus is beautifully balanced with a lot of freshness. This wine is approachable young but can be enjoyed for up to a decade.
The 2022 Vintage
2022 harvest presented the most challenges. August 31st was the first day of a 40°C+ heatwave which continued consistently for a full 10 days, a first in our history.
The Syrah at that stage was close to being perfectly ripe, so we decided to pick a little bit earlier to avoid the consequences of this long period of heat. As a result, we harvested some beautiful Syrah that came out without any damage. The Cabernet, on the contrary, was not ripe and could not be harvested early so we had to wait and sacrifice a lot of yield in the process. When it was finally time to pick, half of the crop was dry. Which led to extensive sorting with our optical sorter. This heat affected the entire region, and many wineries were scrambling to find crews to pick on a moment’s notice. It’s important to shed some light on our dedicated and loyal vineyard crew that has worked with us for the past 20 years. With their help, we were able to pick when needed and to adapt to the weather conditions by incorporating night picking. On top of that, we were fortunate to have space, large numbers of tanks available, and our “Ferrari” of an optical sorter.
At the end of the day, given the numerous obstacles, we came out exhausted but hopeful. Stephan’s winemaking philosophy has always been to make wines that are representative of the vintage and our terroir. This vintage was the perfect example to put Stephan’s philosophy to the test. The Rhone varieties (Syrah, Mourvèdre and Grenache) resisted the heat and did well despite the challenges. For the Cabernet, we decided to focus on the pleasure, balance, and fresh fruit. Ironically, this vintage is showing more as a cool climate vintage, meaning still powerful and ripe, but also with freshness, balance and complexity.