94% Sauvignon Blanc, 6% Sémillon

Food pairings: Seafood such as oysters, shellfish and grilled white fish, goat cheese, fresh salads and other lighter fare; it is just as good on its own, well chilled, on a sunny afternoon.

Winemaking: The grapes were picked in the early morning hours and pressed immediately on arrival at the winery, with care taken to keep the fruit aromatics. The juice settled overnight and was then racked half to stainless steel and half to neutral French oak barrels for a slow, cool primary fermentation, which keeps the aromatics bright while adding a sleek texture. A touch of Sémillon tames the herbaceous side of the Sauvignon Blanc. The wine was gently fined and filtered before bottling in February 2025. The 2024 season was healthy and moderately warm: after a mid-January freeze, the vines rebounded in a warm, dry spring, summer was dry and hot, and cool September evenings gave a long hang time with near-perfect harvest weather, for fruit with lovely balance, crisp acidity and robust fruit expression.

Vineyards and terroir: Frenchtown Sauvignon Blanc is a blend drawn from six vineyards spread across the vast Columbia Valley: Stillwater Creek, McNary, Rosebud, Coyote Canyon, Gamache and L'Ecole's own Estate Seven Hills in the Walla Walla Valley. The winery's estate vineyards are sustainably farmed, LIVE and Sustainable WA certified, and Salmon-Safe. Long sunny days, cool nights and diverse soils let the grapes ripen precisely while keeping their freshness.

Family and history: Frenchtown, the Walla Walla Valley's first settlement, was founded by French Canadians in the early 1800s, and a thriving grape-growing and winemaking community grew up there in the 1860s; L'Ecole's Frenchtown wines salute those pioneers. L'Ecole № 41 was founded in 1983 by Jean and Baker Ferguson as a retirement project: it was only the third winery in the Walla Walla Valley and the twentieth in Washington State, and its very first vintage, a Merlot, won the only Gold Medal awarded by the 1986 Pacific Northwest Enological Society. The winery is housed in the historic 1915 Frenchtown schoolhouse, and its name, French for "the school", honors School District No. 41. Under Megan Ferguson Clubb and Marty Clubb, L'Ecole expanded its estate vineyards and became a benchmark for Washington wine; today the third generation, Riley and Rebecca Clubb, helps lead the family winery. The 2024 is only the second vintage of Frenchtown Sauvignon Blanc, made in larger quantities after the inaugural 2023 proved so popular.

In the pictures: The historic Frenchtown schoolhouse in Lowden, home of L'Ecole № 41; Estate Seven Hills Vineyard in the Walla Walla Valley, one of the six sources of this wine; and owner and managing winemaker Marty Clubb in the vineyard (photos courtesy of L'Ecole № 41).