L'Aventure Winery

Stephan Asseo, owner and winemaker at L'Aventure Winery, started making wine in 1982, after his education at L'Ecole Oenologique de Macon, Bourgogne, France. In the same year, Stephan founded Domaine de Courteillac in Bordeaux. He and his family later bought Chateau Fleur Cardinal and Chateau Robin in the Cotes de Castillion, Bordeaux. Over the next 15 years, Stephan developed into an artisan winemaker with exacting craftsmanship and gained a reputation as a "maverick winemaker". However, his true desire was to be more innovative than AOC law would allow. This led him, his wife Beatrice and his three children, including his daughter Chloé, on a 1996 search for a great terroir, where he could pursue his ideal as a winemaker. After searching for over a year among the world's greatest wine fields, ranging from South Africa to Lebanon, from Argentina to Napa, they found Paso Robles. Stephan and Beatrice instantly "fell in love" with the unique terroir of west side Paso Robles. The rolling topography of the Santa Lucia Mountains, the deep calcareous soils and the maritime influences of the famous Templeton Gap combine to create a world-class wine country, with the potential to make some of the world's finest blends. Here, in Paso Robles, Stephan and his family started their adventure "L'Aventure" in 1998.

The spirit of L'Aventure is most apparent in Stephan's "Paso Blends", such as Optimus and Estate Cuvée. Both wines are blends of Syrah / Cabernet Sauvignon / Petit Verdot. In these wines, as well as in our Rhône blend Côte à Côte, the blending of premium grape varieties increases the authenticity, complexity and balance of the wines. In this adventurous spirit we find the future of Paso Robles wines...great, well-balanced red blends.