Pennington signs on for long term as LʼEcole COO

By Eric Degerman

LOWDEN, Wash. — Marty Clubb and LʼEcole N° 41 have made a statement to the wine community by recruiting Ste. Michelle Wine Estates executive Ryan Pennington to become chief operating officer of the 40-year-old Walla Walla Valley brand.

“I can hear jaws hitting the table with this news,“ Clubb told Great Northwest Wine. “The 40th anniversary says a lot about our past, but it also points to where we are going. This move is about where we want to go for our future — and we want to be the best.”

Judging by the acclaim and the awards won internationally by Clubb’s wines, L’Ecole has been an elite producer for more than a decade. That commitment to excellence and the history surrounding L’Ecole, combined with the opportunity to move his family to Walla Walla, proved overwhelming for Pennington, who spent a decade leading communications and corporate affairs for Ste. Michelle in Woodinville.

His focus shifts from the largest wine company in the Pacific Northwest with an estimated annual production of 6 million cases spanning more than a dozen brands to supporting winemaker Marcus Rafanelli in the production and sales of 50,000 cases.

“I was very happy at Ste. Michelle, and I will always be a proud Ste. Michelle alum, but the opportunity to work with Marty, this team and the incredible legacy and company and brand they built was what really attracted me,” Pennington said. “My involvement at ‘the chateau’ spanned all aspects of the business — developing strategies, trade relations — so I’ve received an MBA of sorts from the University of Ste. Michelle.“

Clubb, 65, is quick to add, “I’m not fading out anytime soon. Ryan and I are going to be doing this together.“

Pennington, 46, starts at the Lowden schoolhouse on Monday, July 10 — three days after packing up his office at Chateau Ste. Michelle. Instead of reporting to a private equity firm based in New York, he will be hands-on at a family-owned winery with a firm financial footing and three tasting rooms. His move comes less than a year after Juan Muñoz-Oca resigned as base loved that label and its identity,” Clubb says. “Our package today might speak of where we have evolved into being a national and international brand, trying to make the best wines possible from Walla Walla and Washington state.”

Clubb’s willingness to serve both the industry and his community keeps him engaged regionally, nationally and globally. Earlier this year, his family flew to Sacramento, Calif., to see a surprise ceremony where he was presented with the Rich Smith Award of Excellence for Distinguished Service from WineAmerica, the National Grape Research Alliance and the Winegrape Growers of America. He’s the first in the Pacific Northwest to receive the honor.

Clubb served as chair of WineAmerica and chair of the Washington Wine Institute, the industry’s state advocacy organization. He’s been on the board of the Washington State Wine Commission. He helped found the marketing group known as the Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance and worked with other area leaders to develop The Institute of Enology and Viticulture for Walla Walla CC, where he remains on the advisory board.

“We were the third winery in the valley, and there were no grapes grown in Walla Walla,” Clubb says. “Today, there are over 130 wineries and 3,500 to 4,000 acres of vineyards. It has been a transformation in a positive way. We have so many great winemakers in the Walla Walla Valley, and there’s a lot of camaraderie and passion. We pat one another on the back when someone gets a big score. That has driven Walla Walla’s success and Washington’s success.”

Rafanelli’s style began to emerge as a winemaking student of Walla Walla CC. After graduating, he moved to Woodinville, where he made award-winning wines for William Church and earned a reputation for his Viognier, Malbec and red blends. Exploration took him to wineries in Australia’s Barossa Valley and Dr. Loosen in Germany.

Upon his return to his native state, Rafanelli joined Walla Walla CC as a winemaking instructor. His global experience, his willingness to give back to Walla Walla CC and fascination with winemaking research made Rafanelli an ideal fit for L’Ecole. Recent additions to L’Ecole’s portfolio include a first-ever standalone Malbec. We did a small production, winery exclusive 100% Malbec in 2008 and 2012. Maybe “Recent additions to L’Ecole’s portfolio include a small production, winery exclusive standalone Malbec.”

“We brought Marcus on, and he built his team so that we’re making the best wines here at L’Ecole — and our staff here could not be stronger,” Clubb says. “It’s that team that makes us what we are.”

With the recent opening of a new section of Highway 12, Clubb was a little concerned about losing much of that traffic coming into town.

“We took a corner of the old Marcus Whitman Hotel, and we have a tasting room there that is called Heritage Wine Bar,” he said. “It’s got a little bit of a night scene, open later with by-the-glass pours and more flights of wine to try, so it’s a little bit different format.

“Last September, we opened a tasting room in Woodinville in the Schoolhouse District,” he continued. “There are some other Walla Walla wineries there, creating its own cluster. It looks pretty promising.”

Marty and Megan’s daughter, Rebecca, designed the Heritage Wine Bar. Their daughter-in-law Melissa, who is married to their son, Riley, recently joined the team as a brand manager. Both of the children share in ownership and sit on the board of directors.

And it seems Rafanelli has found a permanent home at the former schoolhouse that taught a number of future winemakers. The list begins with Eric Rindal, who worked for the Fergusons during that 1983 harvest and started Waterbrook nearby the next year. It also includes the late Eric Dunham, who served as Clubb’s assistant winemaker prior to the launch of Dunham Cellars.

“My first experience with L’Ecole was back in 2007 when I was a harvest intern and student,” Rafanelli says. “It was a great introduction, and I kept in touch with Marty over the years. When I heard he was looking for a new winemaker I threw my hat in there so fast. My goal is to become a great Washington winemaker, and this winery gives me the capability to do that.”

Consistent acclaim comes with its challenges, including Rafanelli’s first three vintages at L’Ecole — the pandemic in 2020, the “heat dome” of 2021 and last year’s Hail Mary race to the finish.

“During COVID, there have been supply chain issues because of glass shortages, but one of the silver linings was that there were no events, so there was no travel,” Rafanelli says. “It was just me and my team, and we were able to lock ourselves in the cellar, learn the vineyard blocks, learn the varieties and learn the processes.”

New ways of managing the involvement of oxygen during the winemaking process and embracing crossflow filtering prior to bottling also are done with the consumer in mind.

“Over the years, we thought that we needed to be racking frequently in order to be cleaning the wine up,” Clubb says. “The idea brought to us by Marcus to seal in the flavor and the aromatics of the wine — and saving those for your glass — was a whole new way of thinking for us. I see it paying off.”

From this 40-year foundation, the wines garner global acclaim in an everchanging market. The winemaking and winegrowing teams are solid in their approach to the Heritage tier from Columbia Valley vineyards, the Walla Walla Valley lineup and special projects for club members and select longtime restaurant/ retail partners.

“I’m over the moon that Marty was open to making a few tweaks and changes to the program,” Rafanelli says. “It’s been really fun to see. It takes a while for wine to be made and then released.”

Don’t think that Clubb is standing around waiting for the recess bell to ring on him. With his cellar team in place and the recruitment of Ste. Michelle executive Ryan Pennington as COO of L’Ecole, Clubb plans to focus more on the vines and vineyard relations.

“I don’t know when we’ll get to the day when I have to retire even a little bit because thatʼs the part I love doing,” Clubb says. “It is those final few weeks of fruit maturity that makes the difference in the quality of the wine. Do we need one more thinning pass to get us there? If you are in the vineyard, you can be responsive and act on it.”

L’Ecole N° 41 Winery, Historic 1915 Schoolhouse, 41 Lowden School Road, Lowden, WA 99360 (509) 525-0940. (There are new driving directions with the expansion of Highway 12.)

L’Ecole Heritage Wine Bar, 6 W. Rose St., Suite 103, Walla Walla, WA 99362 (509) 676-3777

L’Ecole Woodinville, 17401 133rd Ave. NE, Suite 1010, Woodinville, WA 98072 (425) 522-5022

Lecole.com

Ste. Michelleʼs head winemaker. Coincidentally, the Argentine expat recently became COO of U.S. operations for Italian giant Marchesi Antinori. Pennington and Muñoz-Oca worked closely with the Antinori family — Ste. Michelle’s longtime partners in Col Solare and Stagʼs Leap Wine Cellars — and the opportunity to bring some of that international background appealed to Clubb.

“We’re good at what we do,” Clubb says. “We’re going to be greater — both on the winemaking side and with Ryan’s ability to help build our distributor partnerships, build our wine club and build our team so that we’re firing on all cylinders.”

Pennington becomes just the third general manager in the past 20 years for L’Ecole, taking over for Constance Savage, who has stepped down because of health issues. In 2018, she gave up a vice president position in New York with international wine/spirits distributor Kobrand Corp., to move to Walla Walla and replace Debbie Frol, a longtime newspaper executive who spent 16 years helping to lead LʼEcole N° 41.

“Debbie came with the strength in the world of business and having been the publisher of the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin,” Clubb said. “Constance brought the world of business and the world of the wine industry with her. That’s why I knew I needed the strongest person in the industry I could find, which is Ryan.”

It was industry leader Benchmark Consulting in Napa, Calif., that recruited both Savage and Pennington for Clubb.

“It’s important for me to continually acknowledge the role that Constance has played in the L’Ecole legacy and setting us up for the next chapter,” Pennington said. “I’m honored to be following in her footsteps.”

Pennington brings two decades of experience in the international wine trade, working out of Seattle for the Washington State Wine Commission and Woodinville for Ste. Michelle. His

“I’m very immersed in telling the Washington wine story,“ Pennington says.

He grew up on a fifth-generation cattle farm outside of Lake Stevens, so the opportunity to raise a family in the wide-open spaces of Walla Walla holds a special charm.

“I love everything about Walla Walla, and I’m excited to be a part of it,” Pennington says. “The same kind of ambition that Marty talks about for L’Ecole, I feel about the valley as a community and a wine industry. I want to be a part of leading this amazing winery and help lift up the entire community.”

After graduating from Western Washington University, Pennington spent several years in politics and public affairs prior to taking over as communications director for the Washington State Wine Commission in 2008. That work first introduced him to Clubb. Along the way, theyʼve served on several boards together, including the Washington Wine Institute and WineAmerica.

“I knew that Ryan would be a great candidate if the time came,” Clubb said. “I didn’t think he would be interested in moving to Walla Walla, but when I found out that he put his name in the hat, I was pretty excited.”