It’s got to be an American wine today, hasn’t it? I had initially decided to choose one from California where on my recent trip I tasted lots of good things (and a fair number of monsters). But on comparing prices and quality, I couldn’t resist this bargain from Washington state.
The first thing to say about this really delicious L’Ecole No 41 Chardonnay 2004 Columbia Valley is that it costs just £14.99 from Noel Young in the UK and 2,450 yen from Orca International in Japan but even less than this from the many American retailers cited on winesearcher.com. Indeed Cellar 91 of Portland, OR is offering it at just $16.90 – perhaps as an expression of solidarity with another outfit that is named numerically.
Compared with the host of California Chardonnays out there retailing at $30-50 this refined but by no means skinny offering from one of Walla Walla’s most respected wineries is a steal. (Walla Walla sounds as though it should be Australian but is the seat of such WA luminaries as Leonetti Cellars and Woodward Canyon, as well as Glen Fiona, an early Rhône Ranger.) L’Ecole No 41 is so called because it is based in a beautiful 1915 schoolhouse in a region originally settled by French Canadians subsequently known as District 41. The labels always have a child’s painting on them. And l’Ecole is one of the few wineries in the entire world (except for Hunter Valley) to persist with a really well made Semillon. Surely that grape’s time will come… It has the body of Chardonnay and the aroma of Sauvignon Blanc – surely a recipe for success?
I finished the bottle of Ecole’s richly satisfying yet beautifully structured Chardonnay. What more need I say? It has the full-throttle ripeness of any good West Coast Chardonnay but with real tang and follow-through and not an ounce of fat. I think it will continue to develop positively for at least another 12 months and possibly more. Drink it with food though.
Another, possibly even finer Washington 2004 Chardonnay made in Walla Walla came my way while I was in California. Abeja Chardonnay 2004 Washington State should also drink well until at least 2008, has similar structure to the Ecole 41 but even more density and the most attractive note of tangerine – and the trademark pure acidity of Washington wines. It’s a blend of fruit from the attractively cool Celilo Vineyard on the Columbia Gorge, Kestrel View Estates and Conner Lee. Abeja was founded by John Abbott who trained at Pine Ridge and Acacia and set up Chalone’s Canoe Ridge operation in Walla Walla. You can find out more at http://www.abeja.net This wine has a recommended retail price of $28 and is widely available in the US though not, as is so often the case with fine American wines, anywhere outside the US.