How many Zoom webinars have you sat through in the past year? And how many times have you just wanted to zoom away to somewhere a little more magical? Last month I sat through a webinar put on by the IFTWA and L’Ecole No 41 in Walla Walla Washington where I learned so much about the region and the wines there that I hope I get a chance to visit one day soon. Walla Walla is a 4 and a half hour drive from Seattle or a 30 minute flight and it boast sunny weather and very little rain which seems far different than where we live. A few places in Washington that might be similar to Walla Walla in Washington are the Gorge in Quincy, Lake Chelan and Wenatchee and we’ve loved our stays in these places too.
Learning about Walla Walla wine from Marty Clubb, the Managing Wine Maker and Co-Owner of L’ecole 41
We were a group of about 20 writers and we listened to Marty Clubb, the Managing Wine Maker and Co-Owner of L’ecole 41. Because I am from Seattle, I’ve had a few of the L’ecole wines before and I see them often in our local grocery stores. These wines usually range in price between 20-40 dollars and each of us were sent a bottle to try during the webinar. It was neat to hear what some other writers thought of the wines we were tasting during the webinar-many of them know a lot more about wine than I do and they all had very positive things to say.
Did you know that wine can be Sustainable and Certified Salmon Safe?
I liked that Marty brought up that the L’ecole 41 wines from the winery’s Estate Ferguson Vineyard, Estate Seven Hills Vineyard and the Pepper Bridge Vineyard, are Certified Sustainable and Certified Salmon Safe and I’ve never really thought about the sustainability of the wine industry. How the food we eat impacts our environment is something we really value so I will be looking for these labels on the wines I buy from now on. Apparently L’ecole 41 is also known for it’s Chenin Blanc wines because it was one of the first places to plant these grapes in the region so is also one wine I’d like to try when we head to Walla Walla one day. For this webinar I chose red wine so I was sent a Syrah from the Seven Hills Vineyard and I thought it was a really beautiful Syrah that definitely matched its tasting notes and we enjoyed it with our dinner.
And where will we stay when we go to Walla Walla?
I have my eye on this fabulous Walla Walla Airbnb with a pool and I think it would be a perfect holiday to visit Walla Walla and check out L’ecole 41 sometime soon!
(PS. I still feel like I need to know a lot more before I’m comfortable talking about and comparing wines but I learned so much from this webinar and from L’ecole 41 about how wines are affected by the regions that they’re grown in and it was so fascinating that I think wine travel is something we will do more of in the future for sure.)
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)
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