Winter 2004

Dear Friends of the Winery,

I wondered at first if 2004 was the best year for the Washington Wine Commission to launch its new mantra - Washington State, the Perfect Climate for Wine. With the rollercoaster ride we have had through the 2004 vintage, might we fall flat on our faces? A Halloween freeze, followed by a January arctic blast, cool spring, May hailstorms, rain at bloom, a hotter-than-blazes summer, and a cool and damp September all planted doubts about quality in the heart of any honest winemaker. Such trepidation, however, is disappearing and I am now a little giddy over the prospects emerging from the fermentation vats. My early call is that the 2004 wines will be - simply put - fabulous! We are seeing bright, crisp aromatically fruity whites and richly extracted and textured reds. Ironically, 2004 could well be proof of the new mantra (or at least that it is nearly impossible to have a bad vintage in Washington State).

When harvest showed signs of winding down, Megan and I were off to celebrate in San Francisco at Wine & Spirits' Top 100 Tasting, featuring their top 100 wines of the year. For L'Ecole No 41, that wine was our 2001 Pepper Bridge Vineyard Apogee, scoring 94 points. We were named Winery of the Year for the third consecutive year, but most special was taking the top honor in the Regional Winery category.

I knew we had a gem in our Seven Hills Vineyard, but it is becoming more apparent that we actually have a diamond mine. Last summer, Wine & Spirits Magazine named their Top Twelve Merlots. Five were from Washington State including our 2001 Seven Hills Vineyard Estate Merlot. But, guess what? Three others on that short list also had fruit from Seven Hills Vineyard. This might have influenced Wine & Spirits when they tackled a tough question: What makes a wine great? For one, great vineyards. In their short list of 10 Great Vineyards of the World, Seven Hills Vineyard shared the limelight with the better known likes of Haut-Brion, Bonnes Mares, and Eisele.

What a wonderful stage for launching a new L'Ecole No 41 wine, our Seven Hills Vineyard Estate Perigee. For ten years we have successfully been producing exceptional varietally labeled wines from Seven Hills Vineyard. While there is an indelible vineyard imprint on each of these wines, we knew we could make an even more pronounced statement about the vineyard by hand-selecting the best and oldest vines, where the essence of the wine is the vineyard itself! For Seven Hills Vineyard this has become Perigee. Of course, the juxtaposition to Pepper Bridge Vineyard Apogee had something to do with that name.

The yin and yang of Perigee and Apogee works for these two wines and prestigious vineyards. Seven Hills Vineyard, planted in the wind blown loess of geologically young, mineral rich soils is renowned for its rich elegance, earthy velvety structure, seductive aromas, and complex silky finish. Pepper Bridge Vineyard, planted in the terraced remnants of ice-age flood deposits, shows its characteristic spicy, bold and dark fruit flavors with a rich structure, well-integrated tannins and long finish.

Ten years ago we chose the proprietary name Apogee for our Pepper Bridge Vineyard red blend because its definition seemed to reflect all that we were trying to accomplish with this wine - reaching an apex, or the ultimate in quality. In the moon's orbit around the earth, apogee is the farthest point from the earth, or the most heavenly point. Given the distinctive differences between these two vineyards, it seemed fitting that we name our Seven Hills Vineyard red blend Perigee, which is the closest point to the earth in the moon's orbit. In the fall, when you step outside at night and experience a huge full harvest moon, that's Perigee. "Closeness to the earth" is an attractive attribute for Seven Hills Vineyard, since the wine is known for its earthy structure and suggests the environmentally sound and sustainable viticultural practices we utilize.

We love the fun, whimsical school drawing used on our labels. Recognizing the schoolhouse as the heart and soul of our brand, we began looking for a singular way to set Perigee and Apogee apart from our core line of wines. A wonderful photograph of the schoolhouse, taken shortly after it was built in 1915, hangs in our tasting room. We chose to honor this heritage by featuring it on the label of these two esteemed Walla Walla Valley vineyard focus wines.

See for yourself! Attend our 9th Annual Holiday Barrel Tasting and Open House the first weekend of December. The enclosed card highlights special events planned for this weekend, including the new Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance Backstage Pass, tasting fee and wine dinners at the schoolhouse. Backstage Pass holders are invited to a special Opening Night reception. The weekend will be all about showcasing Perigee and Apogee! Upstairs we will taste the new 2002 vintages, side-by-side, and downstairs in the cellar, visitors will barrel taste the 2003 vintage of both wines.

Taylor Antrim, in his Fall 2004 article for Wine & Spirits, said "Greatness in wine is ineffable." I had to look that up, as it captured my attention and I can't seem to let it go. It means really great wine is impossible to describe with words, one must experience it. I'm running out of room, so I will avoid the lengthy, inadequate descriptions and simply say, in addition to Perigee and Apogee, we have a number of new, really great wines for you to try. They include 2003 Fries Vineyard Semillon, 2003 Seven Hills Vineyard Late Harvest Semillon, 2002 Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, and our ever-popular 2003 Schoolhouse Red.

We hope to see you at Holiday Barrel Tasting in December.

Martin and Megan Clubb, and the staff of L'Ecole Nº 41