Wine release marks tasting room’s 100th

One of Walla Walla’s most recognized tasting rooms turns 100 this year. And owners are celebrating with – what else? – a new release in its honor.

L’Ecole No. 41 commemorates the 100th birthday of its historic Frenchtown schoolhouse with the release this spring of a 2013 Frenchtown Red Wine, owners announced.

The Columbia Valley red is a blend of merlot, cabernet sauvignon and shiraz, and will retail for $23 when it hits the national marketplace.

A little history lesson on the schoolhouse: The two-room structure was built in 1915 to serve the children of the Walla Walla Valley’s first settlement, Frenchtown, and surrounding communities. Frenchtown was established in the early 1800s by French Canadians. By 1860, a thriving viticulture and winemaking community had been established.

The schoolhouse itself closed in 1974. Three years later it was purchased by winery founders Jean and Baker Ferguson. They equipped the building for winemaking and opened L’Ecole – French for “school” – in 1983.

The schoolhouse has been immortalized on L’Ecole’s labels.