2014 Force Majeure Syrah Force Majeure Vineyard Red Mountain
Syrah
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JamesSuckling.com
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By James Suckling
(Force Majeure Vineyard Syrah Red Mountain, Red, United States) Login and sign up and see review text.
4/29/2018, (See more on JamesSuckling.com...)
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By Stephen Tanzer
(Force Majeure Syrah Force Majeure Vineyard Washington Red) Login and sign up and see review text.
Washington: Various Shades of Hot (Oct 2017), 10/1/2017, (See more on Vinous...)
Full Pull
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By Paul Zitarelli
(Force Majeure Estate Syrah) Hello friends. The 2014 vintage is an important one for Force Majeure. The first vintage with new winemaker Todd Alexander fully on board. The first vintage with no Collaboration Series wines. The first vintage entirely focused on their otherworldly estate vineyard high up in ankle-busting territory at the top of Red Mountain. New packaging. If the first 2014 wine I’ve tasted from this estate is any indication of what’s to come, well then, the sky is the limit. If a wine can be a statement of intent, then the intent here is clear: to be nothing short of world class. Wine Advocate: Copyrighted material withheld. Note: this was the single strongest 2014 barrel sample review of Jeb’s entire Washington report last summer. Bar none. 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 (who has since moved on from the project) 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 a glass-staining inky black-purple. The aromatics are glorious and savory and very Syrah: huckleberry fruit, mineral and violet, dried black olives and roasted marrow bones. But where this really dazzles is texturally, offering these qualities of intensity and palate presence and extract on what seems like a gravity-defying weightless frame. I feel like this is Todd Alexander opening a door and welcoming Force Majeure into the upper echelon of Washington wineries.
Full Pull Statement of Intent, 4/17/2017
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Wine Definition
- Vintage2014
- TypeRed
- ProducerForce Majeure
- VarietySyrah
- Designationn/a
- VineyardForce Majeure Vineyard
- CountryUSA
- RegionWashington
- SubRegionColumbia Valley
- AppellationRed Mountain
- Display optionsVariety and Appellation
7/18/2023 - Hi.its.Don.4.Wine Likes this wine: 95 Points
Too Many White Wines
As I pondered my posts of late, I noticed that I had been focusing on all white wines. That’s not a bad thing, just it needs a little mixing up to spicen things up. That’s when I decided to try today’s wine, thinking that I might just get what I asked for, and why shouldn’t, it’s a Syrah and they’re known to have some spiciness. So, I chose the:
Force Majeure "Estate" Red Mountain Syrah 2014
Maybe I should have read the 97- or 95-Point reviews, as that would have alerted me to the fact that this particular wine, gorgeous as it was, was not particularly spicy. No worries though, it had so much else to give, it was easy to forgive the lack of spice notes.
Starting with the depth and lushness of the wine, the structure with its deep red fruit, its roundness, and eventual smooth finish, made up for what wasn’t there. The last 9 years mellowing the wine further into its current profile.
From none other than Red Mountain in Washington state, this wine, a blend of 99% Syrah and 1% Viognier, was aged in a combination of both new and used French Oak for 18 months, bottled unfined and unfiltered, under the craftmanship of Todd Alexander, former Bryant Family Vineyard Winemaker.
With only 350 cases produced of this wine, it’s highly unlikely you’ll find this particular vintage. Fear not! Their stable of wines receives consistently high marks across the board, year after year. So if you’re stuck on whites right now, or even if you’re not, if you see any of their wines, I think you’ll be pleased.
Cheers
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7/4/2023 - markcic Likes this wine: 92 Points
My club was having a BBQ to celebrate the 4th. So I decided with all the meats, ribs and the like I would bring a syrah. Opened two hours in advance. Dark fruit on the nose. The palate is dark berries, some figs, plum, tree bark, gravel and hints of spice. The finish is moderate to long.
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4/14/2023 - RAB007 wrote: 94 Points
Excellent bottle with less than a cm of ullage. Purple with minimal amber edge (1 - 2 mm). Black fruit, damp forest, violets. Tasted a bit thinner than i expected (medium body), but wonderfully integrated soft tannin. A very good to outstanding bottle of grape juice.
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7/3/2022 - enjoyvino Likes this wine: 92 Points
Yummy with Leavenworth friends. At Riverside properties
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6/26/2022 - Winning_Wines Likes this wine: 93 Points
This bottle was not as showing as some of my others. Still, it was a very well made wine that gave plenty of pleasure, but it lacked some of the complexity that I remeber.
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