November 24, 1998 L'Ecole No. 41 Dear Friends of the Winery, With near perfect weather conditions this fall, we successfully have put to rest this year's harvest with over 250 tons processed. When bottled, this will translate into about 15,000 cases. The 1998 harvest looks remarkably like 1994, where higher heat unit accumulation and a moderate fruit set resulted in an early harvest. With smaller berry size and cluster weights we have seen huge extracted fruit flavors and immensely dark color in the reds. It truly looks like a wonderful vintage for us, particularly for our red wines from the Walla Walla Valley vineyards. Despite an early season hailstorm at Seven Hills, we managed to harvest our first fruit from our new plantings at Seven Hills East...4 tons of Syrah (another new wine!). We are once again joining the ranks with neighboring wineries in the Walla Walla Valley to host our second annual Holiday Barrel Tasting, December 5th and 6th. Local Merlot grower, artist and friend Jeffrey Hill will be on hand to display several oil paintings of Walla Walla Valley vineyards. He will also unveil a new painting of Pepperbridge Vineyard that is simply breathtaking. On Friday and Saturday evenings, we will again host special wine dinners paired with our new releases. Seattle chef Cristiana Fagioli has created the enclosed menu for these dinners. Please call the winery for reservations. We are really excited about our new releases this November, including the 1997 Fries Vineyard Semillon, 1996 Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, and the 1996 Seven Hills Barrel Select. Earlier this fall we released the 1997 Barrel Fermented Semillon and the 1997 Washington Chardonnay, both of which are wonderful expressions of these varietals. The 1997 Fries Semillon shows lemon, banana and apricot aromas tinged with a vanilla orange blossom nose. In the mouth, flavors of Asian pear and apple linger with a spicy clove finish. The 1996 Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon has a dark garnet richly extracted color, showing spicy black currant, anise and vanilla mint in the nose. It has ripe huckleberry and baked plum flavors integrated with toasty mocha and leather overtones. The 1996 Seven Hills Barrel Select is 68% Cabernet Sauvignon and 32% Merlot. This wine shows a ripe apple, vanilla and caramel plum nose with a thick rich mouth of bright black cherry and spicy currants. It has hints of dried fruit, with a sweet tobacco, hazelnut and rich cedary mocha finish. Our first red table wine, called Schoolhouse Red, is also being released this November (one L'Ecole fan grumbles "it is about time"). This light-bodied, immensely quaffable Bordeaux blend is 55% Merlot, 33% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 12% Cabernet Franc. Despite its lower stature, this wine has many redeeming features, showing a sweet vanilla and bright cherry nose with hints of eucalyptus, herbal sage and rose petal. The flavors show crisp cherry, strawberry, and raspberry plum in the mouth. The enhanced schoolhouse label shown on the card (mailed) is the label for the Seven Hills Barrel Select. Our intent was to integrate the ever popular schoolhouse drawing with another schoolhouse image, the actual chalkboard in the tasting room. Our children did the "erased chalk" images. The piano composition was a song Riley wrote and composed in the fourth grade. Rebecca wrote "Things that are Blue" in the third grade. Annie Morningstar of Fresh Northwest Design helped us come up with this neat idea. Call and let us know what you think! Washington, and Walla Walla in particular, is garnering worldwide attention for the quality of wines being produced here. The recent Wine Spectator features a wonderful story on Walla Walla, a glowing commentary on nearly every winery in the Valley. During the year, we also saw favorable reviews of L'Ecole and neighbors in the New York Times, Washington Post, Decanter wine magazine, and most recently The Wine Advocate. The December Wine Enthusiast rates our 1995 Cabernet Sauvignon at 94 points, with the 1995 Pepperbridge Apogee at 93 points. In their web site, Wine Enthusiast lists L'Ecole No 41 as a "Great Producer" of Semillon and Cabernet Sauvignon, and as only 1 of 12 "Premier Producers" of Merlot (interestingly 5 of the 12 are Washington wineries). For those of you on the Internet, we now maintain a home page at http://www.lecole.com. Check it out! We expanded our staff in 1998 with the addition of Kim Clothier in office administration and marketing. Eric Dunham and Mike Sharon continue to lead our team in production and Crandall Kyle is usually the first smile you may encounter in sales and accounting. The schoolhouse restoration continues, and we hope you will be able to come check us out during the Holiday Barrel Tasting. We have some really new fun logo items for Christmas, including awesome fleece pullovers and schoolhouse logo golf balls. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Martin and Megan Clubb Holiday Barrel Tasting December 4th, 5th and 6th 11-5pm We invite you to celebrate the season with L'Ecole No. 41 in the cheerful holiday atmosphere of the beautifully restored Lowden schoolhouse. Enjoy festive music, delectable foods, original artwork and of course L'Ecole No. 41 wines! Join us in the classrooms to taste our new releases including 1996 Seven Hills Vineyard Barrel Select, 1996 Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, 1997 Fries Vineyard Semillon and 1997 Schoolhouse Red, our first red table wine. Also sample our fall releases of the 1997 Barrel Fermented Semillon and 1997 Washington Chardonnay. In the cellar, barrel sample upcoming vintages of your favorite Walla Walla Valley vineyards including 1997 Seven Hills Vineyard Merlot and 1997 Pepperbridge Apogee. Also taste our first Walla Walla Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, a blend of Seven Hills, Pepperbridge and Windrow vineyards. Not to be missed, Walla Walla Merlot grower and local artist Jeff Hill will be on hand to unveil new Walla Walla vineyard landscape paintings. We look forward to seeing you there! The L'Ecole No. 41 Staff Holiday Wine Dinners With Cristiana Fagioli December 4th and 5th 7:00 pm seating Menu Marinated Olives Homemade Crackers and Chevre 1997 Barrel Fermented Semillon Scallop Bisque 1997 Washington Chardonnay Venison Loin with Red Currant Sauce Chestnut & Potato Puree Caramelized Root Vegetables 1996 Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Shaved Raw Fennel & Red Onion Salad Orange Marmalade Cake With Bittersweet Chocolate Glaze 1996 Seven Hills Vineyard Barrel Select $60 per person inclusive of wine paired with food Sales tax and gratuity are not included Limited Seating For Reservations, call 509-525-0940