L'Ecole 41 Seven Hills Vineyard Perigee 2011
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Blend: 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, 6% Malbec, 4% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
L’Ecole’s Perigee, from Seven Hills Vineyard, is a blend of about 60 percent cabernet with merlot and a smattering from the rest of the Bordeaux pantheon. Like the Ferguson, from up-ridge, this wine leads with a dark basalt vein of minerality in its aroma, before a molasses–red cherry mélange comes into view. The flavors go more toward macerated plum, firmly expressed, and girded by tannins that feel massive, streamlined and firm all at once, not so much grounding the wine as driving it. Impressive, it will benefit from cellar time. (1,115 cases)
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Wine Spectator
Supple, generous and graceful, with an interesting grapefruit peel note adding charm to the polished blackberry and dark chocolate flavors, lingering engagingly. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot. Drink now through 2019.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Better, the flagship 2011 Estate Perigee is a rocking blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, 6% Malbec and 4% Petit Verdot that comes from the windblown loess soils of the Seven Hills Vineyard outside of Walla Walla. Concentrated, rich and with solid structure, this medium to full-bodied effort has classic black raspberry, cassis, lead pencil, toast and assorted spices to go with building tannin, solid mid-palate depth and impressive length. It will have over a decade of total longevity.
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Wine Enthusiast
A five-grape, Bordeaux-style blend, it’s still a big, tough, chewy, tannic wine with a chunky, somewhat blocky mouthfeel. Cherry, cassis and wood flavors dominate, and the tannins are quite astringent. Re-tasted over many hours it remained stubbornly hard and compact. Give this one some further bottle age.
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Founded in 1983 in the Walla Walla Valley, L'Ecole No 41 is one of Washington State's most iconic and oldest family-owned wineries. Housed in the historic Frenchtown School depicted on our label, we have earned international acclaim for producing distinctive wines of the highest quality. We craft ultra-premium wines that reflect the unmistakable typicity of Washington State and the unique terroir of our Walla Walla Valley vineyards.
Growing and making 100% of our wines, each bottle is handcrafted with a commitment to quality in the vineyards and the winery. More than three decades of winemaking experience, ongoing investments in our Walla Walla Estate Ferguson and Seven Hills Vineyards, and long term relationships with many of the most prominent vineyards in Washington State are central to our well-known reputation for quality and consistency across our wine portfolio. These tenets will continue to sustain L'Ecole well into the future.
L'Ecole is one of the most honored wineries in Washington State. We are proud to be recognized by Wine & Spirits Magazine as a Top 100 Winery of the Year for fourteen consecutive years. In 2014, Decanter awarded our 2011 Estate Ferguson the International Trophy for Best Bordeaux Blend in the World! In 2016, the 2013 Ferguson won the International Trophy for Best New World Bordeaux Blend from the Six Nations Wine Challenge.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
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.