L’Ecole No. 41 winery was the first place we stopped into coming from the Tri-Cities Regional Airport. The airport is a convenient direct flight from San Francisco. With a one hour drive by car, we were in the heart of Walla Walla wine country.
The unique architecture of L’Ecole Winery intrigued us. Built in 1915, this schoolhouse was located in a historic Frenchtown just west of Walla Walla which explains why the winery is named “L’Ecole” instead of the rather plain-sounding English translation, “The School”. A local tidbit of trivia is that the owner of the next door winery, Woodward Canyon, actually went to school here.
This family-owned winery, founded by Jean and Baker Ferguson, and now owned and operated by their daughter and son-in-law Martin Clubb, has stayed true to its schoolhouse roots (We were fortunate to sit down for a chat with Martin Clubb on another occasion, more to come on this). In the tasting room which used to be a class room, chalk boards are still used to list available wines and summer promotions.
The wines themselves boast labels of the schoolhouse. In fact, the drawing of the school on many of their labels was the winner of a label contest held in 1984. The winner, 8-year-old third grade student Ryan Campbell won $100 for his design. The schoolhouse that graces the bottles of their flagship wines, Perigee and Apogee take on a more serious tone and feature a photograph of the historic schoolhouse shortly after it was built in 1915.
After exploring the tasting room and marveling at the playful references to school (both Clint’s parents are retired educators) we landed at the wine tasting area and was greeted by Scott. Little did I know L’Ecole Nº 41 did not just resemble a school, I was going to get my first lesson on Walla Walla wines from Scott.
While I tasted across the multitude of wines both from estate fruit and those sourced from other vineyards in Walla Walla and Columbia Valley (30,000 cases are produced each year), Scott shared what makes the Walla Walla wine region special.
One is that although the average temperatures are cooler in Walla Walla than Napa, Walla Walla receives more hours of sunshine. Scott also educates us on the highly complex and varied terroir of the region which is the result of lava flows and monumental floods.
Another important difference is that most of Walla Walla vines are self-rooted which means the roots are true to the varietal of the top portion of the plant. In many regions including Napa which are much more susceptible to nematodes or phylloxera, vines will be grafted on rootstocks which are designed to be resistant to these diseases. First signs of phylloxera were detected in the Washington area in 1894, however, isolated incidents of it has not spread so most wineries have not moved to rootstocks.
I really enjoyed listening to Scott as I tasted the wines. He was bursting with knowledge and enthusiasm. At one point, he even whipped out a binder with what looked like printed PowerPoint slides to show us different geological formations and regions in Walla Walla. I was very impressed. Of the wines we tasted, I really enjoyed the 2007 Estate Perigee (Seven Hills Vineyard), the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon (Walla Walla Valley) and their 2007 Estate Merlot (Seven Hills Vineyard).
Scott was particular in pointing out that a typical Walla Walla Cabernet, unlike the typical Napa Cabernet is more restrained and balanced. This was something I heard quite often in our visits over the next couple of days to wineries. I also noticed several locals stopping in to taste or pick up wines. This was a Wednesday afternoon which is traditionally pretty slow for most winery tasting rooms. A local gentleman swears by their Syrah. The Chenin Blanc is also very popular and their 2008 Estate Semillon Ice Wine was already sold out.
Before we left with our purchases, Scott was kind enough to give us recommendations on other wineries to visit. This was something else I really enjoyed about my Walla Walla visit, how the community really pulls together to help each other. Businesses were more than happy to recommend each other. If you are visiting the Walla Walla wine country, make sure to stop by this schoolhouse for a lesson on premiere Walla Walla wines that will tantalize both your mind and your palate.
L’Ecole Nº 41
P.O. Box 111 Lowden, WA 99360
Tasting Room Hours: Open daily 10:00am to 5:00pm
