2015 Merlot Estate

Owner/managing winemaker Marty Clubb told me that the “massive smoke-cloud cover” in late August and early September of 2017 filtered the sunshine and slowed photosynthesis, so that “everything stalled for a few weeks,” and then the temperatures in late September were cooler than usual. For L’Ecole No. 41, it was the first growing season since 2011 in which a majority of the fruit was harvested in October, and Clubb considers 2017 to be a superb year for white wines. But he noted that mildew pressures began with unusual humidity levels in May and June and that “once the spores got going, it was a real battle, especially in our white vineyards.”

Clubb also noted that his 2016 are fresher and higher in acidity than usual. He picked most of his Merlot at Seven Hills during the second and third weeks of September, or later than usual, but told me that he was in before any serious rainfall arrived. By the way, Clubb said he used to be a later picker but is now among the first, even though he insists that he hasn’t changed his approach. “We are looking for anthocyanin levels that will permit a good extraction.” He added that he never gets raisined fruit in the vineyards; on the contrary, the winery has more of a problem with “sugar accumulation disorder” (SAD) in Cabernet Sauvignon, a somewhat mysterious stem disorder that blocks development of the fruit in some Washington vineyards. (Clubb's specially trained vineyard workers must eliminate any affected fruit just prior to the harvest.)

This past summer I sampled L’Ecole’s line-up of 2015 reds. Clubb told me that at the outset he found the tannins a bit pungent and edgy even though the phenolics were ripe and he was afraid that the wines would be too tannic for their own good. But he’s liking the wines more and more and believes that they are now showing very good balance and freshness. Clubb added that he considers cooler vintages with higher acidity to be the best potential agers, but noted that “there are also vintages like 2015 whose big phenolic structure can carry the wines.” And he admitted that he has “a winemaker’s palate: I like fruitfulness. That’s why I like my wines best within ten years or so.”

Incidentally, Clubb planted another 12 acres to Bordeaux varieties with new clones in his high-elevation Ferguson vineyard on thin loess soil over fractured basalt. Next year he will add Syrah, Grenache and a bi of Mourvèdre.