L'Aventure Optimus, Paso Robles, California, USA 2022

Black olive tapenade on the nose, quite savoury with dark black fruit aromas, some vanilla and chocolate elements too. Smooth and silky with amazingly high acidity that you don't expect from the aromatic display. Lively and clean, tongue scraping with a long length of almost tart strawberry and wet stones. Biting acidity with tons of mint and minerality. Mouthwatering but not too much, a little clipped on the finish but more due to tension I think at this point. A cooler climate feel to this, definitely not jammy, it has concentration but a fresh aspect to the fruit with pronounced acidity and minerality. Clean and focussed. Something very drinkable to this. Ageing 18 months; 81% in one year old French oak, 19% new with malolactic fermentation in barrels.