Paso Robles
L’Aventure Wines
2815 Live Oak Road
Paso Robles
These are simply the most stunning wines! Dense, elegant, fruit forward, spicy, earthy with some minerality, a long finish, L’Aventure’s wines have it all! From the full-bodied Rosés to the complex, intense blends of Estate Cuvée and Côte à Côte, Stephan Asseo is the master of coaxing the maximum expression of the vineyard into the bottle. Take one sip of any of his lineup, from Roussanne to Cabernet Sauvignon, and it will explode across your palate, teasing your taste buds with fruit but not too much sugar. For example, Stephan’s favorite, the Estate Cuvée, is 49% Syrah, 37% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Petit Verdot. It’s dark inky color, aromas of black fruit and limestone, are followed by notes of blueberries, wild blackberries, macerated strawberries, and raspberry purée in the mouth. Across the tongue, there are notes of licorice and leather, mocha, cracked pepper, and dark chocolate yet soft tannins make this wine quite drinkable now, but it can also age for 12-15 years. I am sure that patience of that magnitude would be rewarded with an incredible wine but my Estate Cuvées will never last that long in my cellar!
Depth of flavors imbue each varietal with an intensity that will take your breath away. The terroir of L’Aventure truly defines his wines. Stephan travelled the world for a year to find the perfect spot to make the wines he longed for but was restricted from making in his homeland of France. In Paso Robles, he found the perfect storm of limestone, soil, and climate.
The estate grown fruit have richly defined characteristics. I witnessed a Syrah harvest last fall. As I stood between the rows of leafy vines and tasted one of the small black grapes at the crack of dawn, an explosion of concentrated fruit and spice lit up my mouth. It was simply the most amazing thing I had ever tasted. And it is like that for the wines that he so lovingly crafts from the harvest. They are lush, spicy, vibrant, and juicy.
These wines are highly rated by many wine critics and because of that and the quality of the wines themselves, L’Aventure’s wine club has an anxious waiting list of people eager to join and be assured of accessing some of the most highly acclaimed vintages of the Central Coast.
The tasting “salon” is open 4 days a week for anyone to sample the wines that are currently available for purchase. They do sell out quickly so the key is come to the winery when the different wines are released, and make your purchases upon the wine’s release. Stephan does make some wines strictly for club members so there is a perk to join, if you can.
2815 Live Oak Road
Paso Robles
These are simply the most stunning wines! Dense, elegant, fruit forward, spicy, earthy with some minerality, a long finish, L’Aventure’s wines have it all! From the full-bodied Rosés to the complex, intense blends of Estate Cuvée and Côte à Côte, Stephan Asseo is the master of coaxing the maximum expression of the vineyard into the bottle. Take one sip of any of his lineup, from Roussanne to Cabernet Sauvignon, and it will explode across your palate, teasing your taste buds with fruit but not too much sugar. For example, Stephan’s favorite, the Estate Cuvée, is 49% Syrah, 37% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Petit Verdot. It’s dark inky color, aromas of black fruit and limestone, are followed by notes of blueberries, wild blackberries, macerated strawberries, and raspberry purée in the mouth. Across the tongue, there are notes of licorice and leather, mocha, cracked pepper, and dark chocolate yet soft tannins make this wine quite drinkable now, but it can also age for 12-15 years. I am sure that patience of that magnitude would be rewarded with an incredible wine but my Estate Cuvées will never last that long in my cellar!
Depth of flavors imbue each varietal with an intensity that will take your breath away. The terroir of L’Aventure truly defines his wines. Stephan travelled the world for a year to find the perfect spot to make the wines he longed for but was restricted from making in his homeland of France. In Paso Robles, he found the perfect storm of limestone, soil, and climate.
The estate grown fruit have richly defined characteristics. I witnessed a Syrah harvest last fall. As I stood between the rows of leafy vines and tasted one of the small black grapes at the crack of dawn, an explosion of concentrated fruit and spice lit up my mouth. It was simply the most amazing thing I had ever tasted. And it is like that for the wines that he so lovingly crafts from the harvest. They are lush, spicy, vibrant, and juicy.
These wines are highly rated by many wine critics and because of that and the quality of the wines themselves, L’Aventure’s wine club has an anxious waiting list of people eager to join and be assured of accessing some of the most highly acclaimed vintages of the Central Coast.
The tasting “salon” is open 4 days a week for anyone to sample the wines that are currently available for purchase. They do sell out quickly so the key is come to the winery when the different wines are released, and make your purchases upon the wine’s release. Stephan does make some wines strictly for club members so there is a perk to join, if you can.
JUSTIN Winery
11680 Chimney Rock Road
Paso Robles
JUSTIN Winery, set among their vineyards in the rolling hills west of the town of Paso Robles, is fondly known as one of the Far Out wineries. This means that although they are approximately a half hour drive out from town, you will be rewarded for the journey. This idyllic setting surprises with the scope and depth of this family owned and operated winery. It’s not only a winery, but a romantic and luxurious bed and breakfast inn and also a gourmet restaurant, all to better spotlight the passion of it's founders.
Justin Baldwin and his wife, Deborah, are true vineyard pioneers in this area. Over 25 years ago, they came to Paso to follow their dream of producing world-class Bordeaux blends. With all the critical acclaim in the past few years, it seems they’ve achieved their goal. Their 2008 Isosceles, a blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Cabernet Franc, 8% Merlot, and 1% Petit Verdot is an elegant, food-friendly yet complex wine. The deep ruby color, when swirled, gives way to aromas of ripe raspberry, currant, roast coffee, with a light layer of vanilla due to the extended oak aging. The 2008 Reserve Isosceles exhibits more complexity, with black cherry, black currant, dark plum, tobacco, chocolate, spice, and mineral flavors. At first sip, the wine softly caresses your mouth but then takes on ripe fruit and weight as it crosses your tongue. It finishes beautifully for such a young wine and will continue to become more complex as it ages, with the potential to remain in your wine cellar up to 2025.
Another of their blends, Justification, is supple yet rich, offering many layers of red and black fruit, dusty, rounded tannins, and bright acidity. I served the 2004 Justification, a blend of 63% Cabernet Franc and 37% Merlot, at a home wine tasting party to much enthusiasm of the crowd, who marvelled at the balanced complexity and elegant finish. So yummy! JUSTIN’s two signature blends, Isosceles and Justification, vary from year to year as far as the percentages of the wine grapes used, taking the best of that year’s harvest and tinkering with the amounts to make the very best expression possible.
JUSTIN has a full lineup of wines to try. Everything from a wonderful Reserve Chardonnay, reminiscent of a white Burgundy, to experiments like a complex Tempranillo, full of spice and earth, you can be assured of an friendly, fruit-forward expression of that varietal that always pairs well with food. In fact, the synergy between food and wine is so important to Justin and Deborah that their restaurant offers exquisite tasting menus nightly in Deborah’s Room and al fresco weekend brunches in a pleasant, covered patio.
But, back to the wine tasting! The main tasting room, in the original house, is open daily to the general public. They offer a full lineup of wines, merchandise, and food items should you want to pop open a bottle of what you’ve just purchased and sip it alongside some artisan cheeses, gourmet crackers, and tasty condiments underneath the canopy of the large trees near the entry. But if you join their Wine Society, you can linger over your tastings in the valley below, in the fireside tasting room adjacent to the labyrinth of wine caves that are carved out of the hillside. Here you can take a tour of the complex, featuring several artistically designed buildings dedicated to the production of their red and white wines. The tour is extremely informative yet casual enough for you to come away with a better appreciation of the barrel samples and wine tastings to come.
Overall, this is more than just a wine tasting. It’s a sensual feast for the eyes and palate, yielding sumptuous food and delicious wines in a beautiful old world setting. Sometimes you have to pinch yourself to see if you’re still in Paso and not in the south of France! When you visit, make sure to allow enough time to truly savor all that JUSTIN has to offer.
11680 Chimney Rock Road
Paso Robles
JUSTIN Winery, set among their vineyards in the rolling hills west of the town of Paso Robles, is fondly known as one of the Far Out wineries. This means that although they are approximately a half hour drive out from town, you will be rewarded for the journey. This idyllic setting surprises with the scope and depth of this family owned and operated winery. It’s not only a winery, but a romantic and luxurious bed and breakfast inn and also a gourmet restaurant, all to better spotlight the passion of it's founders.
Justin Baldwin and his wife, Deborah, are true vineyard pioneers in this area. Over 25 years ago, they came to Paso to follow their dream of producing world-class Bordeaux blends. With all the critical acclaim in the past few years, it seems they’ve achieved their goal. Their 2008 Isosceles, a blend of 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Cabernet Franc, 8% Merlot, and 1% Petit Verdot is an elegant, food-friendly yet complex wine. The deep ruby color, when swirled, gives way to aromas of ripe raspberry, currant, roast coffee, with a light layer of vanilla due to the extended oak aging. The 2008 Reserve Isosceles exhibits more complexity, with black cherry, black currant, dark plum, tobacco, chocolate, spice, and mineral flavors. At first sip, the wine softly caresses your mouth but then takes on ripe fruit and weight as it crosses your tongue. It finishes beautifully for such a young wine and will continue to become more complex as it ages, with the potential to remain in your wine cellar up to 2025.
Another of their blends, Justification, is supple yet rich, offering many layers of red and black fruit, dusty, rounded tannins, and bright acidity. I served the 2004 Justification, a blend of 63% Cabernet Franc and 37% Merlot, at a home wine tasting party to much enthusiasm of the crowd, who marvelled at the balanced complexity and elegant finish. So yummy! JUSTIN’s two signature blends, Isosceles and Justification, vary from year to year as far as the percentages of the wine grapes used, taking the best of that year’s harvest and tinkering with the amounts to make the very best expression possible.
JUSTIN has a full lineup of wines to try. Everything from a wonderful Reserve Chardonnay, reminiscent of a white Burgundy, to experiments like a complex Tempranillo, full of spice and earth, you can be assured of an friendly, fruit-forward expression of that varietal that always pairs well with food. In fact, the synergy between food and wine is so important to Justin and Deborah that their restaurant offers exquisite tasting menus nightly in Deborah’s Room and al fresco weekend brunches in a pleasant, covered patio.
But, back to the wine tasting! The main tasting room, in the original house, is open daily to the general public. They offer a full lineup of wines, merchandise, and food items should you want to pop open a bottle of what you’ve just purchased and sip it alongside some artisan cheeses, gourmet crackers, and tasty condiments underneath the canopy of the large trees near the entry. But if you join their Wine Society, you can linger over your tastings in the valley below, in the fireside tasting room adjacent to the labyrinth of wine caves that are carved out of the hillside. Here you can take a tour of the complex, featuring several artistically designed buildings dedicated to the production of their red and white wines. The tour is extremely informative yet casual enough for you to come away with a better appreciation of the barrel samples and wine tastings to come.
Overall, this is more than just a wine tasting. It’s a sensual feast for the eyes and palate, yielding sumptuous food and delicious wines in a beautiful old world setting. Sometimes you have to pinch yourself to see if you’re still in Paso and not in the south of France! When you visit, make sure to allow enough time to truly savor all that JUSTIN has to offer.
Tablas Creek Vineyard
9339 Adelaida Road
Paso Robles
In the same “Far Out” winery region of Paso, located on a chalky limestone hillside, is perched the reigning white wine producer of the Paso Robles region. Tablas Creek is the marriage of two families, the Perrin family of France’s Chateau de Beaucastel and Robert Haas. Almost forty years ago, they realized the potential for Rhone grape varietals in California’s climate. They imported vines from France and began the laborious task of reproducing them in their nursery to plant their vineyards.
Tablas Creek follows the Old World tradition of blending varietals to produce wines that are more complex and elegant, better balanced, richer and deeper than a single varietal. They have a unique style that has caught the eye of wine critics and sommeliers around the world. They also are one of the few certified organic producers of wine in California. They offer tours of the property and explain cover crops and how important lady bugs are to the health of the vineyard.
Their lineup of white wines is unusual and refreshing. Uncommon varietals such as Vermentino, Picpoul Blanc, and Bergeron (a young Rousanne) peek the imagination even though their Antithesis Chardonnay is quite yummy. Although I initially said white wine producer because of the diversity of white varietals, almost 2/3’s of their production is red wines. Their signature blend, Esprit de Beaucastel, consists of 40% Mourvedre, 27% Grenache, 28% Syrah, and 5% Counoise. The 2009 vintage is dark black-red, with a rich nose of black fruits (blackberry, black raspberry, black currant), cocoa, with an overlay of sweet spice and mocha. It’s an elegant, layered wine with explosive fruit, crushed rock, licorice, spice, and black raspberry. Ripe tannins give way to a long finish.
On the flip side of this coin, they make an Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc. It’s a blend of 60% Roussanne, 35% Grenache Blanc, and 5% Picpoul Blanc. It’s a vibrant reflection of the terroir of the area, with aromas of passion fruit, mango, ginger, asian pear, and herbs combined with rich flavors of honey and white tea. It sounds different and it is. It’s easy drinking, acidity, and saline minerality (a taste of the sea!) pairs well with shellfish and grilled vegetables.
And now for the big boy! Panoplie, an intense blend of Mourvedre, Grenache, and Syrah, made only in exceptional vintages, is a dense wine with a rich plum nose, ripe and sweet with coffee and eucalyptus notes. It shows flavors of black fruit, licorice, pepper, and roasted meat. It has a long licorice and spice finish. This bad boy caught Robert Parker’s eye and he scored the 2008 vintage a whopping 96 points. While it needs to age for a few years to maximize it’s potential, you can decant this big wine and have it with a holiday meal. Just like the great Brunello di Montalcino from Italy, this wine needs a minimum of 5 years in bottle to be enjoyable, and best if you can wait it out for 7-8 years, with an aging potential up to 2035. Wow, I don’t think mine will make it that far!
Tablas Creek also makes some simple blends such as their Côtes de Tablas, a take on the classic Côtes du Rhone wines from the south of France. The 2009 vintage is medium bodied, with rich, juicy, spicy flavors, gentle ripe tannins and a licorice-laced finish. It’s reasonably priced, enough so that you can enjoy this wine more often. If you become a Vinsider (their version of a wine club), they knock 20% off the retail price of the wines.
Tablas Creek offers many educational seminars throughout the year and special events where you can get up close and personal with the winemaker to expand your appreciation of their wines. In the meantime, you also can learn more of what your tastes are by exposing yourself to many different wines of which Tablas Creek can provide the perfect opportunity.
9339 Adelaida Road
Paso Robles
In the same “Far Out” winery region of Paso, located on a chalky limestone hillside, is perched the reigning white wine producer of the Paso Robles region. Tablas Creek is the marriage of two families, the Perrin family of France’s Chateau de Beaucastel and Robert Haas. Almost forty years ago, they realized the potential for Rhone grape varietals in California’s climate. They imported vines from France and began the laborious task of reproducing them in their nursery to plant their vineyards.
Tablas Creek follows the Old World tradition of blending varietals to produce wines that are more complex and elegant, better balanced, richer and deeper than a single varietal. They have a unique style that has caught the eye of wine critics and sommeliers around the world. They also are one of the few certified organic producers of wine in California. They offer tours of the property and explain cover crops and how important lady bugs are to the health of the vineyard.
Their lineup of white wines is unusual and refreshing. Uncommon varietals such as Vermentino, Picpoul Blanc, and Bergeron (a young Rousanne) peek the imagination even though their Antithesis Chardonnay is quite yummy. Although I initially said white wine producer because of the diversity of white varietals, almost 2/3’s of their production is red wines. Their signature blend, Esprit de Beaucastel, consists of 40% Mourvedre, 27% Grenache, 28% Syrah, and 5% Counoise. The 2009 vintage is dark black-red, with a rich nose of black fruits (blackberry, black raspberry, black currant), cocoa, with an overlay of sweet spice and mocha. It’s an elegant, layered wine with explosive fruit, crushed rock, licorice, spice, and black raspberry. Ripe tannins give way to a long finish.
On the flip side of this coin, they make an Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc. It’s a blend of 60% Roussanne, 35% Grenache Blanc, and 5% Picpoul Blanc. It’s a vibrant reflection of the terroir of the area, with aromas of passion fruit, mango, ginger, asian pear, and herbs combined with rich flavors of honey and white tea. It sounds different and it is. It’s easy drinking, acidity, and saline minerality (a taste of the sea!) pairs well with shellfish and grilled vegetables.
And now for the big boy! Panoplie, an intense blend of Mourvedre, Grenache, and Syrah, made only in exceptional vintages, is a dense wine with a rich plum nose, ripe and sweet with coffee and eucalyptus notes. It shows flavors of black fruit, licorice, pepper, and roasted meat. It has a long licorice and spice finish. This bad boy caught Robert Parker’s eye and he scored the 2008 vintage a whopping 96 points. While it needs to age for a few years to maximize it’s potential, you can decant this big wine and have it with a holiday meal. Just like the great Brunello di Montalcino from Italy, this wine needs a minimum of 5 years in bottle to be enjoyable, and best if you can wait it out for 7-8 years, with an aging potential up to 2035. Wow, I don’t think mine will make it that far!
Tablas Creek also makes some simple blends such as their Côtes de Tablas, a take on the classic Côtes du Rhone wines from the south of France. The 2009 vintage is medium bodied, with rich, juicy, spicy flavors, gentle ripe tannins and a licorice-laced finish. It’s reasonably priced, enough so that you can enjoy this wine more often. If you become a Vinsider (their version of a wine club), they knock 20% off the retail price of the wines.
Tablas Creek offers many educational seminars throughout the year and special events where you can get up close and personal with the winemaker to expand your appreciation of their wines. In the meantime, you also can learn more of what your tastes are by exposing yourself to many different wines of which Tablas Creek can provide the perfect opportunity.
