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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 92.3 pts. and median of 92 pts. in 41 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by FlyPig on 11/16/2023 & rated 94 points: Smoky, slight gaminess, medium weight, very good. Long fuse left 9n this but not sure it’s going to improve. Drink. (745 views) | | | Tasted by rmcnees on 4/27/2023 & rated 93 points: Like before, this was "Consistent with earlier tasting experience. Dark garnet colored, full-bodied, rich concentrated black berry fruits, hints of blue fruits, accented with layers of smokiness, minerality and tones of anise, black tea, black olive tapenade and hints of smokey meats, with bright lively acidity and cloying but approachable tannins on the tangy lingering finish." But, I gave it a 93-94 rating, improved from earlier, showing benefits and rewards for additional several years of aging.
https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2023/04/force-majeure-syrah-2015-w-bbq-ribs.html (1101 views) | | | Tasted by Cablover1982 on 4/6/2023 & rated 92 points: This kept going from great to mediocre every so often. Big rush of dark fruits, coffee, salted meats, pepper, sweet tar and dried licorice.
At times it tasted disjointed and hot. At times well-Integrated.
Sand paper-Esque tannins, medium finish. (1245 views) | | | Tasted by Bob23 on 1/8/2023 & rated 92 points: Lovely varietal notes, great acidity, nice balance and fruit. Likely merits another point or two once it sheds the last sweet oak notes - almost there. Really good. (1406 views) | | | Tasted by SMHalps on 11/30/2022 & rated 92 points: Brought this to a wine tasting at a Turkish restaurant. It followed FM's Parabellum Coulee, and half the group preferred this wine to the Coulee. I preferred the Coulee and felt that this 100% Syrah would have benefited by either a decanting or an extended breathing time. After about 2 hours, when the bottle was 2/3s empty, this got really good. (1451 views) | | | Tasted by Cablover1982 on 11/19/2022 & rated 96 points: Brilliant Syrah! The ‘15 is singing. Right off the bat the smoky black fruit aromas are soaring out the glass. Sumptuous notes of grilled meats, bacon strips, torched flowers and tar! So flavorful on palate, good acidity with powdery tannins and long finish! Great QPR! (1438 views) | | | Tasted by SMHalps on 9/14/2022 & rated 94 points: Part of a Syrah tasting at a NYC Steakhouse where we had, in order, 2012 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle, 2012 Shafer Relentless, 2015 Force Majeure Syrah Force Majeure Vineyard. All the wines were opened, but not decanted for at least 45 minutes before pouring. For much of the evening, we had all three Syrahs at the same time, giving us the ability to compare them, see how they went with food, and see how they progressed during the night.
This was my favorite of the three, both with and without food. Long finish, and a great balance between fruit and acidity. At 15.1% alcohol it was right inbetween the other 2 wines. This was also the least expensive wine of the tasting. Making it the clear QPR winner. (1319 views) | | | Tasted by SMHalps on 3/11/2022 & rated 93 points: Syrah from around the world tasting (Bobby Van's on Park, NYC): Part of a Syrah tasting with my NYC wine group. My 2nd favorite of the night. It has been 2 years since my last bottle of this vintage and I'm bumping my score up 1 point. It was open for an hour before we drank it and that may have helped. Blue fruit, mild spices and maybe a hint of smoke. Medium length finish. (1583 views) | | | Tasted by Jimaronson on 2/12/2022 & rated 93 points: Medium weight Syrah which in a blind tasting would pass for a Pinot. Beautifully contructed and balanced from start through finish. The wine was slow oxed for 30 minutes and then decanted for an hour. Feminine style with blue and red fruits. A little spice to keep it interesting. The wine is in its prime drinking window (1424 views) | | | Tasted by AGELVIS on 1/31/2022 & rated 94 points: Three hour slow ox. Very deep dark ruby magenta (more ruby) color, with a black core. Black cherry, powdered sugar, and peppered salami on the nose. Very smooth, dry palate. Full tannins on the longish finish.
I’m low (in attitude) on both Pinot and Syrah these days, for whatever reason. For those who really love Syrah, you can safely add a point or two to my score. This guy is beautifully made and drinking in prime time right now. (1937 views) | | | Tasted by MJP Hou TX on 10/8/2021 & rated 93 points: No formal notes but do remember really liking the spot this wine was in. Opened a 17 after and 15 was in a much better spot for complexity development. Drink or hold. (2905 views) | | | Tasted by mojotojo on 10/2/2021 & rated 94 points: Gorgeous Syrah from Red Mountain. Rich and opulent, with juicy black red and blackberry, tar, bbq brisket, violets, herbs, minerals and smoke. Very fine, firm tannins and nice acidity. Almost perfect balance. The finish lasts 60 second+ and is smooth as a baby's bottom. Hang on to this one. (1415 views) | | | Tasted by Shay.Aldriedge on 8/26/2021 & rated 93 points: This was one of the red wines I served for my annual WWC hosting, alongside a 2016 Pellegrin Sauvage, 2017 Chacra CyC, and a 2013 Myriad 100% WC Las Madres Syrah.
I was fortunate to have the 2014 of this a few weeks back and it was extremely sexy and ready for business. This was a bit more closed off, even after almost 2hrs in the glass before most got to it. Dark and inky in the glass. Sported a bit of northwest funk on the nose, but fairly tame. More smoked meat/bacon fat as opposed to the Cayuse/Rocks type funk, and even some Andes mint. Richness carried over to the palate with jerky, licorice, coffee grounds, and peppercorn crusted blackberries and black cherries. A wonderful wine, but hold another few years for it to really strut. (1379 views) | | | Tasted by Gjagai on 6/26/2021 & rated 92 points: Aroma bouquet: jam, cherry, sweet
Color hue charity: inky, purple, dark
Taste texture finish balance: juicy, slight tannins, jam, fruit, plums, velvety finish
Overall: 4.5/5. Excellent wine on it's own. Let breathe and enjoy. (1302 views) | | | Tasted by tomlee on 5/7/2021 & rated 94 points: Purple in color. 15.1% ABV. Savory nose of dark fruits, olive brine and violets. Full bodied with medium acidity. Well balanced. Rich, lush and brooding. Black cherry, blueberry liqueur, charred meats and minerals on the palate. Tremendous length on the finish with silky tannins. Exceptional Syrah from one of WA states top producers. Best over the next 2-4 years. (1557 views) | | | Tasted by rmcnees on 4/15/2021 & rated 92 points: Consistent with earlier tasting experience. Dark garnet colored, full-bodied, rich concentrated black berry fruits, hints of blue fruits, accented with layers of smokiness, minerality and tones of anise, black tea, black olive tapenade and hints of smokey meats, with bright lively acidity and cloying but approachable tannins on the tangy lingering finish.
https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2021/04/dual-syrahs-for-bbq-rib-dinner.html (1372 views) | | | Tasted by rmcnees on 12/19/2020 & rated 92 points: Consistent with earlier tasting notes.
https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2020/12/force-majeure-red-mountain-syrah-2015.html (1509 views) | | | Tasted by AGELVIS on 9/3/2020 & rated 92 points: One hour decant. Very deep dark purple magenta color. Salami, blackberry jelly, anise, and peppercorn on the classic Syrah nose. Very smooth, dry, peppery palate, with persistent, tongue numbing acidity. Full tannins on the longish finish. Very well made. Likely to continue improving for another year or two. (1830 views) | | | Tasted by rosey on 8/5/2020 & rated 93 points: Young I will wait on my next bottle (1495 views) | | | Tasted by Swanywawa on 6/8/2020 & rated 93 points: Dark Garnet in color. Blackberry and anise covered in smoke. Long finish with hanging tannins. Beautiful wine! (1561 views) | | | Tasted by jeagle on 5/13/2020 & rated 95 points: I obviously liked this wine more than most. A three hour decant and it never varied over the following three hours. So plush with terroir over fruit: smoked meat and licorice with no noticeable wood. Structure is obvious but not intrusive. My rating is probably a bit high, but then I did really look forward to repeatedly pouring more into my glass, so yeah. (1746 views) | | | Tasted by SMHalps on 2/7/2020 & rated 92 points: Opened, and decanted at a NYC Steakhouse. It sat in the decanter for over an hour before we drank this. It followed a 2013 Caymus Special Select and a 2012 Caymus Cabernet. It probably should have been slotted in before the Caymus wines. It tastes very young, but somehow, not as full bodied as the Caymus Cabs. Nice minerality and notes of blackberry. (1577 views) | | | Tasted by MC2 Wines on 1/4/2019: Winorama: A winter in Wineland III; 1/4/2019-1/13/2019 (Portland/Willamette, Eureka, Napa): This was actually quite nice despite what last note says. I believe it had had a fairly significant decant which I'm sure helped a lot. Washington wine can be a bit intense. Even with decant can still tell this is young, but there's a good structure to it. Nice darker fruits. A bit more elegant than the Parabellum that we tried alongside (mostly driven by higher acid). It's a good wine and went quite well with the steak especially. (2903 views) | | | Tasted by Jason on 11/20/2018 & rated 82 points: I don’t understand the big scores for this wine at all. No structure. Flabby. It’s smooth and round but lacks any grip (or reason to keep sipping it). Extremely disappointing. I have 5 more. Want to buy them. (1871 views) | | | Tasted by dlcass on 11/6/2018 & rated 94 points: Delicious. Young. Allowed to air in glass for 1-2 hrs. Nice texture and mouthfeel but not transformative. Likely due to youth. (1831 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| By Stephen Tanzer
Vinous, Focus on Washington: The New Normal (Nov 2018) (11/1/2018)
(Force Majeure Syrah Estate Vineyard (red Mountain) Washington Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Jeb Dunnuck
JebDunnuck.com, Latest Releases from Washington State (4/5/2018)
(Force Majeure Syrah) Login and sign up and see review text. | By Paul Zitarelli
Full Pull, Full Pull Old and New (3/11/2018)
(Force Majeure Estate Syrah) 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:Wine Advocate: Copyrighted material withheld. Let me go back to summer 2010, when I first wrote about this project. Here’s what I said then: The long-term [plan] involves one of the most heart-pounding vineyards in the state and a vineyard manager who walks the line between passion and obession. Ryan Johnson, who also manages Ciel du Cheval, Quilceda Galitzine, DeLille Grand Ciel, and Cadance Cara Mia Vineyards (that is one hell of a portfolio), partnered with Paul McBride to purchase and plant a vineyard near the apex of Red Mountain. Inspired by the vertical vineyards of Cote Rotie, Ryan planted a true mountainside vineyard on Red Mountain. Running from 960 to 1230 feet (Red Mountain tops out at about 1400 ft), this site required yeoman's work with a pickaxe and backfilling with rocks just to get the end posts into the ground. It is a stunning site to see in person, and a painful place to go to work: windy, steep, ankle-breaking territory where one block has been designated as "El Terror" by the vineyard workers (the site also includes "El Guapo" and "El Hueso"). Paul and Ryan have to be gratified by seeing their vision come to fruition so fully. And Todd Alexander, who left a plum gig at cultish Cali producer Bryant Family Vineyard, must feel justified in his decision to head north. This particular partnership of special vineyard site and special winemaker has yielded, perhaps unsurprisingly, a very special wine. Syrah from the top of the vineyard was cofermented with 1% Viognier (also from the estate), and a portion of that fermentation took place in concrete. The wine was aged in a mix of French oak barrels and larger puncheons, mostly used. It clocks in at 15.1% listed alc and pours into the glass inky black-purple. The nose combines pure huckleberry fruit, loads of ferrous minerality, and earthy notes of ground coffee. Texturally gorgeous, this saturates the entire palate and holds on for dear life, full of that continuing mix of fruit and mineral. Somehow this offers power and presence and extract on a gravity-defying frame that feels weightless. It is quite the feat. In a very short period of time, this has become a singular Washington Syrah. |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of Vinous and JebDunnuck.com and Full Pull. (manage subscription channels) |
| Force Majeure Producer Website
A visit to Force Majeure Estate and Vineyards in the Rocks District of Milton-Freewater AVA, Walla Walla.
https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2018/10/force-majeure-vineyards-site-visit-and.html
Syrah Varietal article (Wikipedia) | (Wines Northwest)
Note that some producers in the Northern Rhone distinguish between simply Syrah and "Serine", the latter described as ‘an ancient clone of Syrah, the berries of which are more oval-shaped and less deeply pigmented than Syrah’ by producer Tardieu-Laurent. USAAmerican wine has been produced since the 1500s, with the first widespread production beginning in New Mexico in 1628. Today, wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with California producing 84% of all U.S. wine. The continent of North America is home to several native species of grape, including Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia, Vitis rotundifolia, and Vitis vulpina, but the wine-making industry is based almost entirely on the cultivation of the European Vitis vinifera, which was introduced by European settlers. With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) under vine, the United States is the fourth-largest wine producing country in the world, after Italy, Spain, and France.Washington Washington Wine Commission | Credit to Washingtonwine.org for this article
Washington Wine
Washington State is a premium wine producing region located in the northwest corner of the United States. Although a relatively young wine industry, it is now the nation's second largest wine producer and is ranked among the world's top wine regions. Washington wines are found nationally in all 50 states and internationally in more than 40 countries.
Wineries
With 30,000+ acres planted, the state has ideal geography and conditions for growing premium vinifera wine grapes. Primarily grown on their own root stocks, the vines produce grapes of consistent quality, resulting in strong vintages year after year. While its focus is on Chardonnay, Riesling, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, the region also produces a wide range of other spectacular whites and reds.
Growers
Winemakers from all over the world have chosen to establish themselves in Washington, where they can create wines reflecting this region's unique characteristics. Their hand-crafted wines are receiving wide acclaim from critics regionally, nationally and internationally for their consistently high quality. Many of them have received scores of 90 and above from the major wine media. Overall this is a higher percentage than other leading wine regions.
Regions
As the state's fourth largest fruit crop, the Washington wine industry is an important contributor to the long-term preservation of Washington agriculture. The industry is committed to sustainable agricultural practices and conservation of water resources.
Washington State is a premium wine producing region located in the northwest corner of the United States. Although a relatively young wine industry, it is now the nation's second largest wine producer and is ranked among the world's top wine regions. Washington wines are found nationally in all 50 states and internationally in more than 40 countries.
Varieties
Washington produces more than 20 wine grape varieties - a ratio of 56 percent white to 44 percent red. As the industry matures and experiments, it finds many grape varieties that thrive throughout Washington's microclimates. There are more than 16,000 vineyard acres of red wine varieties statewide.
History & Vintages
Washington's wine future is limitless. As consumers discover the quality of Washington wines, demand continues to grow nationally and internationally. New acreage and wine varietals are being planted and new wineries are opening at a remarkable pace. Washington State is recognized as a premium viticultural region around the world.
State Facts
Washington's wine industry generates more than $3 billion to the state economy. It employs more than 14,000 people, directly and indirectly, with projections to add nearly 2,000 more jobs by 2006. In terms of tax revenues accrued to the state and federal government, wine grapes are among the highest tax generators of any agricultural crops. Furthermore, Washington wine tourism attracts nearly two million visitors annually contributing to the positive growth of local and regional economies.
Washington State - the perfect climate for wine = ideal growing conditions, quality wines, business innovation, lifestyle, and social responsibility. All are key elements of this world-class wine industry.
Vintages
"2008 and even more so 2010 and 2011 were cool, even cold vintages (think: 2002 in the Barossa) without the extreme ripeness, extract and higher alcohol that had become the norm in the state’s post 1995 world. 2008 was manageable but the duo of 2010/2011 nearly caused a “great depression” in Washington State." - Jon RimmermanColumbia Valley Columbia Cascade Winery Association
The Columbia Valley AVA lies mostly in Washington state, with a small section in Oregon. The Cascade Range forms its western boundary with the Palouse regions bordering the area to the east. To the north, the Okanogan National Forest forms a border with the AVA and Canada. It encompasses the valleys formed by the Columbia River and its tributaries, including the Walla Walla River, the Snake River, and the Yakima River. The Columbia valley stretches between the 46th parallel and 47th parallel which puts it in line with the well known French wine growing regions of Bordeaux and Burgundy. The northern latitude gives the areas two more hours of additional daylight during the summer growing season than wine regions of California receive. The volcanic and sandy loam soil of the valley offers good drainage and is poor in nutrients, ideal in forcing the vine to concentrate its resources into the grape clusters.Red Mountain WinesNW Article on Red Mountain
Wine Enthusiast Article on Red Mountain
The Seattle Times Article on Red Mountain |
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