Wine Wednesday with #L'Ecole and a Lesson in Ageablility

I am very pleased to have been chosen to be an ambassador for L'Ecole wines.  Each month they generously send me two bottles of wine.  In return, I taste and pair the wines and then share my thoughts and opinions of the featured wine with my readers.  I receive no monetary compensation for my posts and all writings are 100% my own.

This month we met up with the winemaker, Marty Clubb, and opened up two vintages of a Bordeaux Blend that they call Perigee.

The purpose of the Zoom meeting this month was to taste the just released 2018 bottle and compare it with a 2015 Vintage so that we could better understand why certain wines, while certainly drinkable upon release, change and transform as they mature.

Now that we tasted these vintages and learned about ageability, I am very excited about a bottle of 2013 Perigee that came in a mystery box that I had ordered for myself.  I am going to save that bottle for a special occasion.  

Perigee means close to the earth.  Both of these vintages have a foundation of Cabernet Sauvignon.  The 2018 vintage contains 16% each of Merlot and Cabernet Franc and 9% each of Petit Verdo and Malbec.  2018 was a great year for wine growing in the western United States and this wine is wonderful.  I noted that it opened up very nicely after it had been in my glass for a bit.  

It was interesting to me that the Winemaker thinks any wines under 10 years old benefit from being decantered.  I am going to make this my new practice.  The Perigee wines are made with the intent of cellaring for a few years before enjoying. 

2015 was the warmest on record until this year for Oregon vineyards.  This resulted in an earlier harvest of grapes that were smaller in size and cluster.  This vintage contains 6% more Cab than the 2018, the same amount of Merlot and less Cab Franc at 14% and only 7% Petit Verdot and Malbec.  It's age showed in the smoothness of the wine.  It is very dry and spicy.  

My husband and I finished off the remainder of the 2018 vintage after the webinar with L'Ecole and I sealed the 2015 vintage to serve with a Beef and Sweet Potato Stew that I had on the calendar for the following evening.

This strong and smooth blend, either vintage, screamed to be paired with a hearty, meaty meal.  It was very drinkable on it's own, as we learned with the 2018, but the 2015 was extremely lovely paired with this stew that was flavored with southwest flavors of chili powder, cumin and coriander. 

We were curious as to why L'Ecole decided to send us the 2015 vintage to compare with the current vintage.  The main reason was that when the 2015 wines turned out so lovely they kept a larger library than normal as they knew that it was going to age well.  They wanted to make sure that whichever wine they shared from their library would be available for purchase to our readers should you decide you want them.

The 2018 vintage is available online from L'Ecole at an SRP of $56, less if you are a club member.  The 2015 vintage is available at an SRP of $72 dollars but you must call to order and you are limited to only 2 bottles.  You can find all the information that you need at their homepage.  Right now you can get .01 cent shipping on a case of wine just in time for the holidays.  

I can't wait for the 2021 vintage to be released in a few years.  With the weather this year being so similar to that in 2015, it is sure to be an amazing bottle.  All of the Perigee wines are built for aging, I am going to order up a few more bottles and hope that I can exert enough self control to let them remain untouched for a few years.  Wish me luck!!!