L'Ecole Nº41 ~ A Walla Walla Valley Winery in Washington

We are a member of the Washing Wine Quality Alliance (WWQA) which is a voluntary, self-governed organization developed in 1999 by the Washington state wine industry to demonstrate the region's commitment and focus for producing world-class wines.
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Washington Wine Country Appellation Map

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History
Nestled up against the Blue Mountains on the Washington/Oregon border, the Walla Walla Valley was originally settled by French trappers from the Hudson Bay Company who manned Fort Walla Walla at the confluence of the Columbia and Walla Walla rivers. Grape growing began in the 1850's and by 1865 nurseries and wineries thrived. The industry disappeared with prohibition and what is considered the modern era began when Leonetti Cellar was bonded in 1977. Woodward Canyon was founded in 1981 and L'Ecole Nº 41 had its first harvest in 1983.

The original Walla Walla Valley Appellation was approved in 1984, and was expanded in 2000 to fit the geographic outline of the valley. The camaraderie of winemakers welcomed new vineyardist and winegrowers, and today Walla Walla is home to over 50 wineries and 1,200 acres of wine grapes. 100% of the wineries are members, and more than 90% of the acreage is represented by the Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance, an organization established to promote quality, excellence and unity in our growing wine industry.

Terroir
The Walla Walla Valley is unique to Washington State's viticultural regions due to its warmer climate and proximity to the Blue Mountains. However, Walla Walla shares its primary terroir attributes with other areas of Eastern Washington. A mutual combination of climate, soil and latitude create an ideal environment for superb quality wine production. These attributes include:

Northern latitude (46 degrees N) provides for 17+ hours of sunshine in the critical summer ripening months of July and August. We have over 300 days of sunshine. The cold winters put our grapevines into a deep dormancy and reduces the over-wintering of vineyard pests.
The cool nights during harvest extend "hang-time," the period between veraison and fruit harvest, which helps preserve natural acidity and generates greater pigment and flavor development in the fruit.
Eastern Washington sits in the rain shadow of the Olympic and Cascade Mountains essentially blocking Pacific storms. With only 8 to 14 inches of rain, we are better positioned to control vine vigor, berry size and overall cluster weights.
The soils are very free draining, ground-up combinations of young, mineral rich loam, silt, loess, cobbles and volcanic ash. Walla Walla was exposed to some of the earth's largest and most spectacular basalt deposits and cataclysmic ice-age sedimentary flood deposits (Walla Walla was estimated to be under 500 feet of water in some of the largest floods).