2014 L’Ecole No. 41 Pepper Bridge Vineyard Apogee, Walla Walla Valley, USA (750ml) GLWS

TASTING NOTES:

The most sweetly fruited, voluptuous and hedonist in the lineup, the 2014 Apogee Pepperbridge Vineyard is made from a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot, 15% Malbec and 4% Cabernet Franc. Sweet blackcurrants, licorice, crushed rocks and graphite notes flow to a sweetly fruited, full-bodied, pleasure bent beauty that has enough baby fat to warrant short term cellaring. It’s going to have two decades of overall longevity.
-Jeb Dunnuck of Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, 94 pts

Black fruit and spice on the nose; savoury, quite fine-grained tannins and fresh acids on the palate. Good concentration and balance of tannins.
-Decanter, 93 pts

A blend of one-half cabernet, thirty percent merlot, and the rest malbec and cabernet franc, this wine gives off an impression of loess even in its aromatics, where scents of red fruit seem sprinkled with wind-borne dust. The red plum and red cherry flavors meet a leafy, vinous, turfy savor, needing cellar time before unleashing it on a steak.
-Wine & Spirits, 92 pts

Cabernet Sauvignon makes up half of this wine, with the balance Merlot (31%), Malbec (15%) and Cabernet Franc. Barrel notes of vanilla and baking spice are up front, followed by herb and dark fruit tones that are backed by lively acidity. It currently drinks very tight. Give it some time in the cellar or an extended decant.
-Wine Enthusiast, 90 pts

WINEMAKER’S NOTES:

L’Ecole No 41 has been producing Pepper Bridge Vineyard Apogee since 1993. Apogee represents their best effort to capture this vineyar’’s distinctive and characteristic spicy bold aromas, dark fruit flavors, robust tannins and rich structure.

This elegant and complex wine has brooding aromas of black cherry, cocoa, fresh nutmeg and leather. Flavors of tobacco, dark fruit and chocolate are wrapped in smooth tannins on a rich, lengthy finish.