A delicious, old vine example of the variety from Yakima Valley, the L'Ecole No 41 Old Vines Chenin Blanc.
100% Chenin Blanc from three Yakima Valley, Washington State vineyards planted in 1979: Willard Farm, Upland Vineyard in Snipes Mountain and Phil Church. The wine has no residual sugar at all (0.0 g/L).
Sample submitted for review. The L'Ecole No 41 Chenin Blanc has an SRP $18 and is available right around that price ($17). 4,150 cases were produced.
From the bottle:
Founded in 1983 in the Walla Walla Valley, L'Ecole No 41 is one of Washington State's first artisan, family-owned wineries. Housed in the historic Frenchtown School depicted on our label, we have earned international acclaim for producing consistently expressive and distinctive wines. This wine is sourced from some of the oldest Chenin Blanc vineyards in Washington State, planted in the 1970s.
Produced & Bottled by L'Ecole No 41
13.0% Alcohol
We're big fans of Chenin Blanc here at Reverse Wine Snob but most of the old vine examples we see tend to come from places like South Africa or France. As such we were excited to try this example from Washington State.
The 2021 L'Ecole No 41 Old Vines Chenin Blanc opens with a fresh, attractive aroma of citrus, peach, melon and lots of flowers along with a touch of salt and pepper. It's a great start.
The wine tastes super smooth, fresh and delicious with rich, juicy fruit similar to the nose but with more lemon notes in the mouth. It also features a lively mouthfeel and touches of salty minerality throughout with some light spice and herbal notes.
It ends crisp, dry, fresh and quite long. This is fantastic!
2021 L'Ecole No 41 Old Vines Chenin Blanc
You can also find more of our favorite Chenin Blanc here.
