Community Tasting Note
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Cristal2000 Likes this wine: 97 points
July 24, 2021 - Vice Versa Wine Dinner: Well now, it appears my friend CSIMM wrote a book about this wine, and how it meets his French sensibilities. I happen to overall agree that this wine is going to be special, just not quite at the 100pt level.
Taking Beckstoffer fruit and putting it with some of Paso's best is an interesting concept. Making it all cab is even more interesting, since traditionally that is not the best grape grown in the GSM dominant Paso region. Nevertheless, this turned out to be a fantastic first effort that will unfortunately only come with about 80 total cases split between L'Aventure and VV.
Super expressive both on the nose and palate, it starts you out with wonderful opulent fruit and is really expansive, touching all corners of your taste buds. Lots of blackberry, black licorice, loamy soil, bing cherry and really good levels of minerality framed in by strong and fine grained tannins. As it progresses, the fruit calms and makes way for significant savory character, I assume from the Paso part of the blend. With a perfect mouthfeel, great layering and already developing complexity, this has the potential to be fabulous. It's already super fun to drink.2 people found this helpful 7,773 views
19 Comments
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PIZZAandBAROLO commented:
7/27/21, 9:04 PM - CSIMM 4 president!!!
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Cristal2000 commented:
7/27/21, 9:05 PM - Is Macron stepping down? :)
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PIZZAandBAROLO commented:
7/27/21, 9:20 PM - 🤣🤣🤣
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PIZZAandBAROLO commented:
7/27/21, 9:25 PM - Cheers Cristal. Big fan here! Your words and writings are second to ummm almost none (insert CSMIMM Plug here lol) But seriously I, and I know many, many, others really appreciate all that you do. It's an unquantifiable help on many levels, So, in the most sincerest terms, thank you!
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Cristal2000 commented:
7/27/21, 9:54 PM - Thank you for the nice comments. Of course I am only joking around with my friend CSIMM - he is a note posting savant! CT is a great resource for all of us, and I think for Napa in particular, it has taken the place of any big time critic. Losing Parker kind of ended the age of a pro critic dictating preference. Now we can find people who have similar palates and tastes to really find the wines that best suit us. Cheers!
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PIZZAandBAROLO commented:
7/27/21, 10:05 PM - I agree with all that you said, but you guys are undoubtedly the new skool and on the next level, For both INFO, and secondly (and maybe most importantly) entertainment value! LOL. I (we) love you guys, Wishing you many, many more years. Keep drinking great (Epic) wines as I (we) live vicariously thru you. Cheers!!!
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csimm commented:
7/27/21, 10:32 PM - I will appoint Cristal to the Foreign Affairs Committee and station him in Paris with no deodorant and nothing but dirtwater wine to drink.
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PIZZAandBAROLO commented:
7/28/21, 5:25 AM - 🤣🤣🤣
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MJP Hou TX commented:
7/28/21, 9:44 AM - Napa youth is moving to Paso as the dream is just too damn expensive. Very interesting concept blending the two sites. Thanks for sharing Cristal
Plus, insurance companies stopped underwriting wildfires. The odds might be better in vegas. -
csimm commented:
7/28/21, 10:02 AM - Introducing the Cosmopolitan Cabernet Sauvignon and the Mandalay Chardonnay, both hailing from the Beckstoffer Dr. Caesars vineyard.
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Big&Bold707 commented:
3/10/22, 3:57 PM - Hey all, sorry for the late comment but curious from you VV members if VV has released this wine yet? I’m a L’Aventure member and have been teased with this for a year. It was supposed to be released 12.21 but got delayed and haven’t heard any update since. Curious if you all have received any release info?
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csimm commented:
3/10/22, 4:22 PM - Hey B&B. VV was delayed as well and is planning on releasing this in the next couple of months in Spring. The VV and L'Aventure Cousins are the exact same juice FYI.
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Big&Bold707 commented:
3/10/22, 6:39 PM - I just heard back from L’Aventure that it will likely be 1-2 months until release. I know it’s the exact same blend but wonder if the bottling is identical for the 2 wineries. All I know is it is a super small production split equally so not a lot to go around.
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csimm commented:
3/11/22, 9:26 AM - I thought the bottles would be all the same (menaing, whether you order it from VV or L'Aventure, it would be the same bottle of wine in look and content), but I can't say 100% on that just yet. I do know the juice is exactly the same between the two wineries.
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Big&Bold707 commented:
4/6/22, 10:25 PM - Hey all. Just saw a wonderful write up in the Robb Report that came out today. Released to VV and L’Aventure members only for $700 2 pack and they will have a handful of mags available. They list the release date as May 10th. The artwork on the bottles is pretty incredible as well (I guess it should be for the cost of admission).
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MJP Hou TX commented:
4/7/22, 5:12 AM - Thanks for the information. I used to geek out about chasing these kind of bottlings down but at @ $350 that's a bit of ask considering that's more than Chave Hermitage or VCC at release.
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Cristal2000 commented:
4/7/22, 7:23 AM - That price is...interesting. Lol. They are making so little of it, I understand the attempt to get as much bang for the buck as possible, but making it $100 more than a To Kalon or Crane is clearly a bit of a stretch, not to mention the $100 or so L'Aventure charges for their "reserve" cab.
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Big&Bold707 commented:
4/7/22, 7:47 AM - Older members of L’Aventure got grandfathered in with 20% off for members. So about $280 per. Definitely steep still. Around the price of a B To Kalon I guess. Priced between a spottswoode and dominus. If it is a yearly thing I’d only do it in prime vintages but this doesn’t look like it will be a recurring thing. Plus they are 2019s which is probably the best vintage ever in Paso and top tier in Napa so may be worth a one time 2 pack purchase.
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MJP Hou TX commented:
4/7/22, 7:54 AM - The more I think about it I'm honestly not that interested in the blending of Napa & Paso. I love the ideal of terroir and wines providing a sense of place in time.
This practice reminds me of the blending of Beckstoffer sites that we're then asked to purchase to qualify for the SVD wines. I've decided to dropped that like a bad habit as well.