Friday Find, August 5th

Each Friday we highlight a wine from the Northwest that we think is a real "find." By find we might mean that it's a steal, as all of these wines we'll feature weekly are under $20. We might also mean "Hey, you really need to go find this" and it might be a wine that we feel not enough people know about. In any case, with the weekend pending we're hoping to help you "find" a wine to kickoff the weekend right. We'll tell you a little bit about the wine and try to help you track it down here in the Northwest.

At the risk of being accused of playing favorites we're going back to the well with today's Friday Find to a Walla Walla winery that we've already talked about in our short existence here at the Anthem. Washington wine stalwarts L'ecole 41 have been producing wine for as long as anyone in Washington. Among their catalog of wines are two stunningly beautiful Cabernet heavy Bourdeaux style blends in the Perigee and Apogee. Their estate Walla Walla Valley Syrah from Seven Hills Vineyard is one of my favorites in the state. The lineup across the board at L'ecole is quality. Given this quality you might be a bit surprised at just how much you're drawn to a $14 white wine in their Chenin Blanc.

This Chenin Blanc is a well balanced wine with a fruit forward palate that's just begging for warm weather. Formerly known as the Walla Voila the 2010 rendition retains that pedigree. From two Yakima Valley vineyards (Willard Family and Phil Church)planted in 1979, and a L'ecole 41 release since 1987. The 2010 vintage found a bit of botrytis in the fruit. What we're left with is a wine with excellent acidity but a touch of sweetness, loads of fruit flavor that included pear, melon and crisp green apple finish with a minerality that makes it a wine that is just a joy to drink. Lucky for all of us you can find this L'ecole wine distributed widely and it's crazy good right now, don't hold on to it, drink it this weekend.

Posted in: Friday Find,L'ecole 41,Washington wine