I decided on a half bottle of this when I had dinner at 26 Brix. After tasting Walla Walla wines all day I would like to have ordered something Australian as a treat with my meal, but there was not a single Australian bottle of wine on the menu. One of the waiting staff tells me that this is due to the difficulty of getting Australian wine out in Walla Walla. Still, I saw a bottle of Two Hands in a store a few blocks from 26 brix, and I would have ordered that right away if it was on the menu.
I was in the mood for a nice Shiraz, but my second favorite is Cab, and they had some on the menu. I tried to balance my need for something nice, with my need to not spend money and my need to not kill a full bottle by myself. The L’Ecole was the best intersection of these needs.
This was definitely a wine that needed to be eaten with food. I think that it was too tannic for my tastes – it tasted young to me and when the meal was finished it was hard for me to have the remainder of my glass. The flavor was OK, but there was not enough sugar on the palate for me. I know that one commenter has already given me flak about my bias for “jammy wines”, but wine is a matter of taste. From what I have heard this wine is a great example of a particular style, just not a style that I am into.
