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 spanning more than a dozen brands with an estimated annual production of 6 million cases — down from 9 million cases as recently as 2018 — to supporting winemaker Marcus Rafanelli in the production and sales of 50,000 cases out of the Walla Walla Valley.
“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 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.”
L’Ecole appoints just 3rd GM in past 20 years
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 wife, Madeline, is the daughter of storied Seattle restaurateur/vintner Peter Dow.
“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.”
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