L'Aventure 95-Point Estate - 2 Pack

As Walt mentioned, it’s Cellar Tracker. If you click on the links for the wine in Cesare’s first post, it will take you to the Cellar Tracker page for that wine. Enjoy!

As you kind of were called out on, you either subscribe to his god-like palate, or you do not. You, seem to do so. As a consumer, it is really disingenuous to say “Look at a 95 Parker score! This wine rocks!” then a few weeks later, when a wine is offered that, may be incredibly good, got an 87 Parker score. No one ever cares to mention his opinion.

Woot will say “oh, but palates differ! Don’t worry.” That bothers me. If you want to jump on the “other site” whose main point is to post 4 pepole’s scores to try and impress you, then do so. Those sites never have winemaker participation. That is why I prefer woot. So, to just throw out “95!” when you don’t quote other wines that have been offered less than stellar scores, goes to show you don’t put much stock into it either. You either do, or your don’t.

I was available to be a rat for this one!

Points taken.

To be completely honest, while I acknowledge his influence, along with the others and Spectator, I don’t live by their advice or buy based on it. I like adventure on my wine journey. I enjoy seeking out new and different wines and wineries that I haven’t tried or visited. Given the choice to buy a wine I’ve had before or buy a new one, I usually go for the new one.

Frankly, sometimes I find the wines he touts to be too big and not to my liking. Other times I agree with his review. In the case of L’Aventure, I dig the wines… not because he said so, but because I drove down the winding, dirt driveway to a winery tucked into the glorious hills of Paso and liked what I tasted. (Their rosé is one of my favorites).

Perhaps you’re right, maybe I shouldn’t have repeated the score with an exclamation point to boot. But… other people do react to those numbers… and again they are a rare sight, especially in my beloved Paso, so I got a little excited.

I too have noticed the lack of Rattage since the holiday season began which makes me sad :frowning: Wondering when the prospective MD 'Rats are going to get some love given the long period of time that we were ineligible to do so!

I have tried a Paso Wine or two with crazy low pH, like 3.3, but ABV and ripeness similar to port. I’d throw the numbers out the window since Paso has some very atypical vineyards and growing conditions in the Templeton Gap area. The description and Parker score seems to tell the story IMO.

As for there being a “deal” here or not, well, with high Parker points and small production, there’s not going to be much discount. Opportunity to buy is about all you can ask for if this wine is in your taste and price window. If you want a big, in your face, effusive wine and can handle the ABV level and oaking, I doubt you can do much better than this. The only thing comparable might be new wave Spanish export cuvees from Jumilla or maybe Priorat, but those still run $50+ range.

Although they do have some merit, I have grown to disdain the rankings, a lot in part thanks to Woot. I remember Peter saying that he had sent far more bottles to those magazines than were ever reviewed. A wine could get a 75, but if the winemaker came on these boards, answered the questions, and the responses were to my liking, I would buy it.

I just get this impression that no one ever really mentions the ratings until they are trying to justify a price point. Even 87 point wines, at the 7.99 price point, tout the rankings. To me, they have more to do with price than quality. (Although they are certainly related to quality, but mostly related to “well, of course it is a $100+ Napa Cab, you do know Parker scored it a 92!?”)

I really like this wine too and have a few bottles in my cellar from other vintages. I have been to the winery and agree with comments above that L’Aventure is among the top in Paso Robles (under Booker and Denner, in my opinion, but somewhere alongside Linne Calodo, Villa Creek, Tablas Creek, and a couple others.

This is not a great discount, I agree, but I’d be in for 1 or 2 if shipping was available to Connecticut. Sadly, it is not. For those with some extra cash, I’d recommend buying this and then letting it sit for at least a year, if not two. That’s my take.

Some really good wine, but a bit too spendy for me given present excess-money-available-for-wine levels. That said, I agree with the person who said L’Aventure is a top 5 Paso winery. It is up there with Linne Calodo, Saxum, Tablas Creek, and Turley (though Turley is more Napa based with a Paso tasting room and a few vineyards). L’Aventure makes the best bordeaux-styled reds I’ve had from the Paso region, while the others are more Rhone-styled, or just super new-world ones.

I agree. Especially based on the CT scores this has.
I always check the CT community before buying.

He is getting paid to rate…while we pay to rate.
Who are you going to trust?

i was really impressed with Caliza in Paso.
btw the lot18 offer was for the 08 cuvee.
not sure how much it would be different than the 09…would be nice to get a rep on here to clarify a few things…hmmhintmmmm

Agreed on both points.

Additionally, if you only go by his scores, you’re only going to be exposed to the kinds of wines he likes. Don’t get me wrong they have their place (generally with a hearty meal based around a big piece of beef), but many of the subtler, gentler Pinots and Grenaches I love don’t even get his attention.

Incidentally, one of things that makes L’Aventure so memorable to me is its owner/winemaker Stephan. He is an excitable French man with strong opinions and a thick accent. If he happens to be in the tasting room when you visit, you’re in for a treat. You can’t help but be captivated by his obvious enthusiasm for wine.

I am shocked at the following coincidence: I opened my one bottle of 2008 Cote a Cote last night.

I visited the winery in June and splurged on one bottle of Cote. I love GSMs from Paso Robles (note: this is my favorite region in CA, but don’t tell anyone, as I partly love it because it isn’t that crowded!). This wine had an old world finish that simply forced me into credit card submission. The wine drank well last night but I do wish I had laid it down for a few more years as it has the backbone to mature and was slightly out of balance (oddly carrying more acidity than I recall - note: I’ve been in and out of a cold for a week…). Still, an absolutely incredible wine if you are a fan of GSMs from the Paso Robles region (or Kepplinger up in Napa) with a touch of the old world flare at the end.

I also recall the Estate Cuvee well as there isn’t a better pair of wines that could have been devised to explain the difference between my father’s palate and my own. It has the same subtle old world flair, although slightly less in my opinion because the new world cab dial is turned up just a touch. I actually don’t drink that much cab anymore but in terms of comparing to Corison, these both carry more weight then Kathy’s wines in my opinion.

Naturally, I can only offer up my opinions and say that I will be purchasing once I take a look at my bank balance…storage issues be damned!

There’s problems either way. Both reward and pride can distort reality.

Ya pays yer money an’ ya takes yer chances…

Perception becomes reality. After all, everyones taste is their own perception and reality Wow that is pretty deep for a Sunday

A high Parker score, the description, and the CT reviews disagree with you. I for one can’t go in on this without the additional info that others have asked for (TA, pH, aging profile, etc …)

Neil, in my experience, a high Parker score almost always indicates a new world style fruit bomb for reds. Hence my original comment. I’m not saying its bad juice … it’s just not my thing.

Love your bug mudman! I was chasing it with my kids… i thought it was real.

No worries. You know what you like and what you don’t; if anything, the scores were information that was useful for you to identify this as an offer that doesn’t suit you.

While I will think twice about touting scores in the future, :slight_smile: I’m glad I did. As you know, this debate plays out quite a bit and where better to discuss than here on Woot? keithnowak7 mentioned that he prefers Woot because of the winemaker participation. I agree- and I’ll add that the community, and this forum allowing conversation and debate make Woot a very cool place indeed, to check out, discuss and buy all sorts of wine.

I’ll keep looking for wines with scores, without scores, new world style, old world style, red, white, pink and orange. It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it…

I agree, both of these wines benefit from some years of alone time to reach their full potential. We cracked an '04 Cote a Cote at dinner a few weeks ago and it drank like a champ. Probably coulda kept it laid down for another 5 years or more.

Just to clarify on this. My comment of a subtle old world flair is in relation to the Cote a Cote. The Cote a Cote has some nice graphite on the finish - but note that I only said that this has a touch on the finish. You find this to smaller degree in the Cuvee. This is exactly why the two wines in 2008 showcase the difference between my father’s palate and my own. He prefers new world wines more than I do.
Sorry for the confusion, I actually really like the complexity that the GSM provides by being full of fruit up front but washing away with some graphite notes.