2015 L’Ecole No. 41 Cabernet Sauvignon Walla Walla Valley

A Cabernet Standard-Bearer “Firing on all Cylinders”

For Cabernet Sauvignon enthusiasts who have yet to discover the wine wonders of the Pacific Northwest, today’s 2015 L’Ecole No. 41 is the 100% Cabernet from a proven house that hits all the marks. It will leave you wondering why there aren’t more wines from Walla Walla stocked deep in your cellar.

At just $40 per bottle, the 2015 L’École No. 41 is a steal for the kind of complexity guaranteed by winemaker Marty Clubb’s stressed out vines. Ruby in the glass, fresh primary fruit aromas of blackberry and black cherry fruit are interlaced with dark chocolate, crushed violets, and rose petals.

His wines share the same story they tell in Bordeaux—unique ancient soils, mature vines, great concentration, and structure—only if this was a bottle of Bordeaux, you’d have to tack on another zero or two to the price tag.

Unlike Bordeaux and Napa, Eastern Washington’s Walla Walla Valley is a hot, sun-drenched region, which results in decadent, uber-ripe Cabernet Sauvignons (à la Hundred Acre and Schrader) at a price that makes California winemakers squirm. 

Under a blazing sun-bleached white sky, we made the short pilgrimage from the L’École winery with Marty along quiet country roads to the “Ferguson Wall”—a quarry of Walla Walla’s famous basalt, rising 30 feet to meet a thin layer of topsoil on which prime Cabernet vines are planted.

From where we stood with Marty, a panoramic view offered us a glimpse of the AVA, while the quarry shows exposed roots of the vines snaking down, twisting and turning through layers of soft, breakable black basalt in search of nutrients. L’Ecole’s nutrient-poor estate soils discourage vigor, which concentrates grape berries, leading to richness, balanced by complex tannins, and great acidity, all courtesy of Walla Walla’s sunny, consistent growing-season. Thus, their poor soils are one of the reasons why a glass of L’Ecole Cabernet is all at once powerful and elegant.  

But don’t just take our word for it—taste the wine from a winery that has been hailed as one of Walla Walla’s “standard bearers,” by Food & Wine, and an “estate firing on all cylinders,” according to Robert Parker, not to mentiona regular of Spectator’s Top 100 lists.

A Cabernet Sauvignon of this quality from Napa would be—should be—quadruple the price.

We left L’Ecole with mud on our boots, a real sense of place, and a deeper appreciation for the stunning Cabernets Marty continues to turn out, year after year.

• Fruit Intensity
• Oak Intensity
• Body
• Acidity
• Tannin

• ABV 14.50%
• 30 mins
• Now – 2026
• % Cabernet Sauvignon
• Serving temperature – 60°
• Cork