The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

The Wine: the incomparable L'Ecole 2011 Chenin Blanc, a white wine, $14 dollars a bottle on the shelf of Walla Walla winery tasting room, 509-525-0940. In the 1970s, West Coast steakhouse bar managers looking for a change switched out their jugs of chenin blanc for the oaken chardonnay by Mondavi. For those who don't like oak, a long-lived Chenin Blanc has far more character than any chardonnay on earth and no oak. The cold fermentation of the L'Ecole Chenin Blanc celebrates orange blossom, star fruit and a crisp mineral finish.

Jean Ferguson, Marty Clubb's mother and L'Ecole's first winemaker...