Situated in the historic Frenchtown School off of US 12 is L’Ecole No. 41, a family owned winery that was started in 1983. At the time of this being written it is owned by Marty and Megan Clubb, second generation. This winery was only the third established in the Walla Walla Valley and has been given Top 100 Winery of the Year honors 15 times. The winery has many accolades to its name such as Top Bordeaux Blend in the World and Top New World Bordeaux Blend coming for their 2011 Ferguson and 2013 Ferguson respectively.

Once you turn in off of US 12 parking is located in the front of the school yard. Once walking up to the winery you will pass through the gates and up to the front doors. Once inside you will be taken to the wine bar which is situated up the stars and to the left. L’Ecole No. 41 offers up an indoor and outdoor tasting option, for ours we chose to sit outside on the patio which was a great choice as we were in Walla Walla in May and had temperatures in the mid 70’s the entire time.

Our tasting included six different wines; Semillion, Chardonnay, Estate Merlot, Estate Syrah, Estate Prestige, and Ferguson Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. Out of the group our favorite were the Estate Syrah and the Ferguson Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. The Ferguson showed notes of chocolate covered cherry, cherry pie, baking spice, bell pepper, blueberry, and rose. High tannins, high acidity, great structure that shows the potential to age, a nice finish and balance.