This blend, 57 percent cabernet, the rest merlot and franc, is the first release from L’Ecole’s new planting on the hill above Seven Hills, part of the Sevein project. The wine reflects those young vines in two ways: in its precocious spiced berry fruit, like plums laced with orange pekoe tea, and in the way the wine leaps from the glass, the tannins getting a mineral thrust as if from the mass of basalt the vineyard rests on. After a day the aromas start to show a ‘where-ness’—cedar, black pepper, sun-dried tomato, mace—all classic Walla Walla aromatic markers. First planted in 2008, this will be a vineyard to watch.

Ferguson is L’Ecole’s newest estate vineyard, and this Bordeaux-style blend marks its single-vineyard debut. It’s 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot and 11% Cabernet Franc, grown at 1,500 feet in almost pure basalt. The minerality is a signature trait, along with raspberry, cassis and wild cherry fruit flavors. This seems sure to improve by 2020–2022.

A new cuvee for the estate and more focused and tight, the 2011 Estate Ferguson is 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot and the balance Cabernet Franc that spent 22 months in 50% new French oak barrels. Coming completely from the Ferguson vineyard in Walla Walla, it’s a slightly longer term prospect and gives up ample dark berry fruit, scorched earth, charcoal and graphite to go with a medium+-bodied, tight, focused and linear profile. Give it 2-3 years in the cellar and enjoy bottles through 2025. - Jeb Dunnuck

Fresh and vibrant, this is light-footed, with breadth to the rhubarb-accented raspberry and cranberry flavors, coming together harmoniously on the finish. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Drink now through 2019. 845 cases made. –HS