L’Ecole No. 41 2019 Frenchtown Red Wine, Columbia Valley

September is harvest month in Washington State and this wine gives a first glimpse into the release of 2019 wines.

Harvest Time Has Come

This entry-level red wine from L’Ecole is named for Frenchtown, Walla Walla’s first settlement, founded by French Canadians in the early 1800s. It’s notable because it is the first red wine bottled and released by the winery each year.

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Not only is it the first wine of the vintage year released, but it also provides of cross-section of the entire L’Ecole red wine program. There are six different grapes included in Frenchtown and they include both Bordeaux and Rhone varieties – something not usually seen.

Cooking And Pairing

For this harvest-themed wine, I decided on a Spice and Salt Rubbed Beef with smashed red potatoes and a nice salad topped with cherries. The dish was topped with cremini mushrooms and cream sauce. We put a slight chill on the wine and allowed it to open up.

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The wine is primarily Merlot (45%), with 18% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Syrah, 10% Malbec, 6% Petit Verdot, and 4% Grenache. This is a winemaker blend that varies each year depending on the wine remaining from the other production runs.

We found this to be a fun wine, bursting with fruit-forward flavor. This is a fresh wine, with a hint of herbal and savory notes. It’s a medium to medium plus body and beautiful notes of black cherry and berries soon emerge.

It is high in alcohol (14.5%), but that doesn’t rattle the cage and the overall impression is a smooth, flavorful wine with a juicy finish.

The wine is aged for nine months in neutral oak barrels, meaning laid-back tannins. It gets an additional six months of bottle aging before release. The SRP is $22, which is a great value from this third-generation family winery.