Marty Clubb and his excellent L’Ecole lineup are iconic in the Washington wine industry. L’Ecole 41 is one of the most honored wineries in the state, generating international accolades over the years for producing superior quality wines. For the last few years, passionate winemaker Marcus Rafanelli and his hard-working team have maintained and built on the tradition of standout wines. We recently tasted some current releases and new wines that are available this month. These five continue the trend of impressive wines from the historic schoolhouse in Walla Walla.
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Tag Archives: Marty Clubb
The Schoolhouse
We know whenever we spend time with L’Ecole 41‘s passionate winemaker Marcus Rafanelli at the schoolhouse, we’re going to have a fun and educational time. And our recent trip to Walla Walla continued that trend. For example, last month Marcus poured us recent releases and library wines in addition to tank and barrel samples. We compared the future releases to the current and older ones, and we can definitely say there is more impressive L’Ecole wine in the years ahead.
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L’Ecole 2023
L’Ecole 41 is a third-generation, family-owned artisan winery. Most importantly, it is one of the most honored wineries in Washington state, and has generated national and international accolades over the years for producing superior quality wines. We’ve been fans of L’Ecole since we moved to Washington in 1999. As a result, we frequently visit their historic schoolhouse in Walla Walla, and know their talented winemakers Marty Clubb and Marcus Rafanelli, and their amazing wines. So, we were delighted to sample six L’Ecole 2023 releases. Once again, L’Ecole scored. These are the impressive wines we tasted: 2020 Ferguson Estate, 40th Anniversary Red, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc-Merlot; 2021 Sémillon, and 2022 Grenache Rosé.
Perigee
Tasting wines through different vintages is always a learning experience. There are many nuances. For example, the age of the wine, the composition of grapes in each vintage, the vineyard location, its soil, and the weather all play a role. Over the years, we tasted numerous vintages of L’Ecole No. 41 Perigee from Seven Hills Vineyard. Most recently, the winery sent us both the 2015 and 2018 Perigee. Read on to learn more about this luscious wine, which we really appreciate.