2014 L'Aventure Optimus

Red Blend

MattMauldin Likes this wine:

March 18, 2017 - Blind Tasting of Paso Robles Red Blends: Paso red blends blind tasting- ranked 1 of 6. Dark ruby color. Really nice savory notes on the nose- saddle leather, earth, spices, dried lavender, along with cherry and fig fruit. Nice lift and energy on the palate, showing red fruits, tea leaf and spices, florals, cedar and sandalwood- very nice complex layers of flavor. Medium-plus acid, medium grain tannins, very well balanced. Nice complexity and length on the finish. Excellent.

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csimm commented:

3/19/17, 9:52 AM - Optimus beats out the Estate, eh? That's very surprising, as I've always found the Estate to have a much stronger/deeper mid-palate than its lesser sibling. Do you know if they had the same treatment (decanted, PnP, slow O2, etc) before you consumed them? Thanks for this note. Looks like I should start experimenting with my 2014s!
MattMauldin commented:

3/19/17, 11:05 AM - Slow ox, a few hours. As it was a blind tasting on young wines, I'm sure the Optimus having a little more young accessibility played into the ranking. I tried to account for the young structure, but tasting blind and not being aware of price points or age of the wines, it really was just a snapshot. The ranking came before the reveals. The Estate Cuvee definitely had a ton of structure and depth, likely a more substantive wine for the long haul. Both L'Aventures were impressive.
csimm commented:

3/19/17, 1:21 PM - Blind tasting is always really interesting. Thanks very much for sharing the experience on CT. Very much appreciated!