Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
Sourced from all three of L’Ecole’s estate vineyards, this includes a small but important contribution of fruit from Milton Freewater, giving the wine a classic Rocks back note. After a day, the Walla Walla elements come into balance, the scents of cedar and sun-dried tomato bearing a burnished-wood texture. But what lasts here is a mineral core, perhaps a contribution from their newest vineyard, Ferguson, up on the SeVein basalt ridge. It’s a lot of wine for $40, and built to cellar.
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Wine Spectator
Ripe and expressive, this upright style delivers cherry, currant and black fruit flavors on a firm frame. The finish comes together harmoniously, echoing plum and spice notes enticingly. Best from 2017 through 2022.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
The 2012 L'Ecole No 41 Cabernet Sauvignon Blanc gives all Cabernets in this price range a run for their money. So good and so well built, this wine clearly speaks of the varietal. Let's just gilled a rib-eye of beef and call it a day. Deep ruby color; ripe red and black fruit with a dollop of oak, fine depth; medium bodied, tight-knit on the palate; red and black fruit, chalk; medium finish. (Tasted: April 14, 2016, San Francisco, CA)
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon that comes from a number of vineyards in Walla Walla, the 2012 Walla Walla Cabernet Sauvignon offers lots of jammy blackberry and black raspberry fruit, creamy licorice, grilled bread and spice in a medium to full-bodied, balanced, textured package. Given the depth through the mid-palate and the sweet tannin on the finish, I suspect this could be drunk anytime over the coming decade or more.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
Responsible for some of Washington’s most highly acclaimed wines, the Walla Walla Valley has experienced a surge in popularity in recent years and is home to both historic wineries and younger, up-and-coming producers.
The Walla Walla Valley, a Native American name meaning “many waters,” is located in southeastern Washington; part of the appellation actually extends into Oregon. Soils here are well-drained, sandy loess over Missoula Flood deposits and fractured basalt.
It is a region perfectly suited to Rhône-inspired Syrahs, distinguished by savory notes of red berry, black olive, smoke and fresh earth. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot create a range of styles from smooth and supple to robust and well-structured. White varieties are rare but some producers blend Sauvignon Blanc with Sémillon, resulting in a rich and round style, and plantings of Viognier, while minimal, are often quite successful.
Of note within Walla Walla, is one new and very peculiar appellation, called the Rocks District of Milton-Freewater. This is the only AVA in the U.S. whose boundaries are totally defined by the soil type. Soils here look a bit like those in the acclaimed Rhône region of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, but are large, ancient, basalt cobblestones. These stones work in the same way as they do in Chateauneuf, absorbing and then radiating the sun's heat up to enhance the ripening of grape clusters. The Rocks District is within the part of Walla Walla that spills over into Oregon and naturally excels in the production of Rhône varieties like Syrah, as well as the Bordeaux varieties.