2013 Force Majeure Collaboration Series VI Ciel du Cheval Vineyard

JebDunnuck.com

• By Jeb Dunnuck
  Latest Releases from Washington State, 4/5/2018, (See more on JebDunnuck.com...)

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Full Pull

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull Old and New, 3/11/2018

  (Force Majeure Collaboration Series VI) Warehouse Sale REMINDER: Reminder that Warehouse Bin-Ends Sale III is taking place on Thursday March 15. We’ll have out and available for sale any bottles where our excess is in the 1-3 bottle range, along with a handful of cherries and cult wines (I’m particularly excited about one Northern Rhone unicorn). And we’ll be pouring a different lineup than usual, too, again drawn from wines where we have an excess stash. If the timing works out right (fingers crossed), we will also debut the new (disgorged-last-week, to be offered in April) Full Pull & Friends Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature, a perennial list favorite. It should be a busy scene, so if you intend to pick up your wines that day, please do make a pickup appointment. If you just want to come in and browse, no appointment is necessary. ---- Hello friends. Back when Force Majeure launched (actually, the winery was called Grand Reve back then, pre-trademark lawsuit), the idea was to produce the Collaboration Series of wines while waiting for the estate vineyard (planted crazily high and crazily steep towards the top of Red Mountain) to come online. The Collaboration Series combined different Washington winemakers with plots of beautiful old Ciel du Cheval Vineyard fruit, and they quickly established a rabid following, from both consumers and critics. Well, the estate site is now fully online, and 2013 is the final vintage for the Collaboration Series. From this point forward, it’s all estate all the time. Today is a milestone for Force Majeure: the release of the final Collaboration Series wine. To celebrate, we’re offering that finale (a Rhone blend courtesy of James Mantone from Syncline), along with two new releases from the Force Majeure Estate Vineyard:Series VI is James Mantone’s Mourvedre-dominant (60%) Rhone blend, rounded out with 30% Grenache and 10% Syrah, all from Ciel du Cheval. It was fermented in concrete and then aged in large puncheons, all to keep as much fruit character as possible. Listed alc is 14.4%. It begins with a wonderfully exotic nose (thank you Mourvedre): dark spices, peppered plums, and a deeply savory note of dark demi-glace. The palate is equally characterful: intense, spicy, and openly delicious. This is one hell of a finale for one of the most exciting series of wines to ever grace Washington.