The Adventure in Discovering L’Aventure Winery
I made my list of wineries to visit, checked it twice and headed off to Paso Robles for the day. Awakening before the sun to make my 4 hour drive, cruising along the freeway listening to my XM Radio. I continued to slice my way through busy traffic of downtown L.A. Finally reaching a little open space to just cruise, anticipating my visiting various wineries and experience their wines.
I finally arrived in the area a little past 10:30am. On the way I was trying to decide which winery to stop at first. Either way both had exceptional wines. But this article isn’t about those wineries; I will post my experience in a future post.
When I visit a winery with exceptional wines or at least to my taste, I ask for recommendations of other wineries in the area. After my third visit to a winery I was told for the second time to visit L’Aventure. The owner and winemaker Stephan Asseo toured the world to find the best place to grow his grapes and make the wine he wanted to create. Can I say the location and wine is – HEAVEN!
Talk about hard to find, even my GPS took me in the wrong direction. Off of Hwy 46, turn onto Arbor Road, curve onto Live Oak Road, then good luck. Continue down the road into a small residential area, watch for children playing; continue to the dirt road and keep on driving. Eventually on the dirt road you will make your way to the gates of L’Aventure Winery.
As you drive through the gates a clearing will appear where you will find the winery. The huge winery is dwarfed by the high rolling hills of vines surrounding the winery and tasting room. Sad to say after my incredible wine tasting here, I totally forgot to take photographs.
On the side of the winery wall is a painting by the French artist Erwin Dazelle. Red wine is flowing across the wall as it’s welcoming you to a unique wine experience.
Stepping inside the tasting room you will find a small counter and on this day, probably most days, a friendly tasting associate. The tasting room is open Thursday through Sunday, from 11:00am to 4:00 pm, accepting appointments the other days. Tastings are $10.00, for 5 wines; includes a stemless Riedel ‘O’ Syrah wine glass.
The tasting room appears small for a winery that is or should be popular and overflowing with tasters. My tasting was on a Thursday and near the end of the day, so not to many people. I wondered if this place is overcrowded during the weekends. All wines on this menu were blends of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Petit Verdot, Mourvedre and Grenache; with most being estate wines.
L’Aventure slogan is ‘Where Bordeaux Meets the Rhone’ I don’t know if they met, but each wine exceeded my expectations. My tasting began with the Estate Rose, and then continuing to the more traditional blended reds. Each tasting was such a joy and the wine better than the one before.
I ended up purchasing the Estate Cuvee 2007; a blend of 49% Estate Syrah, 37% Estate Cabernet and 14% Petit Verdot. I was so excited about this wine, while still at L’Aventure, I called my friends to purchase pork tenderloin or hearty New Y ork steaks; told them I’d be over with the wine that weekend.
My next trip to Paso Robles will include L’Aventure with no detours away from this lovely out of the way spot. And it seems I will not be alone, my friends are ready for a wine adventure to L’Aventure. I’ll bring my camera next time.
If you are in the Paso Robles area, be sure to visit L’Aventure Winery at 2815 Live Oak Rd., www.aventurewine.com
