Force Majeure Syrah 2016
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Jeb
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Robert
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James
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The Red Mountain estate Syrah is grown predominantly at the top of Force Majeure's hillside vineyard, where it is steepest and rockiest. The vines must put down deep roots to gather moisture and nutrients, and the soil helps to create a powerful but elegant wine with a volcanic soil backbone.There are a variety of Syrah clones and trellising methods employed, including gobelet sur echalas. The wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2016 Syrah Estate checks in as 100% Syrah that saw a small amount of stems. It spent 18 months in 25% new French oak. Deeply colored, it displays a thrilling bouquet of smoked black fruits, violets, smoked meats, charcoal, and graphite. Deep, rich, incredibly fleshy and flamboyant, with perfect balance, it's a serious, world-class Syrah that will keep for 10-15 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Broad-shouldered, the 2016 Estate Syrah begins with black raspberry, blackberry and a tight dusty minerality with black spice on the nose. Full-bodied in the mouth, the wine is tight with a mineral edge that reveals a bold expression of Syrah with grippy tannins. It ends with spiced, dusty black plum and smoky oak notes on the long, grippy, lingering finish. While this wine is still young, it can be enjoyed with food now but is best left in the cellar for a few more years and will smoothly mature for another decade and a half. Only 500 cases were produced.
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Wine Spectator
Dark and aromatic, with refined and polished black cherry, licorice and smoky cracked pepper flavors that take on momentum toward fine-grained tannins. Drink now through 2027.
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James Suckling
There’s a very polished feel to this with concentration and depth of flavor that is buoyed by the effortless balance. Blackberries and earthy, spicy complexity on the nose, all leading to a fresh, fruit-laden palate that has spark and energy. Drink or hold.
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Wine Enthusiast
There's no question of the warm vintage and growing region that this wine comes from. Expressive aromas of coffee bean, dark fruit and baking chocolate are followed by quite ripe fruit flavors, with the tannins giving a firm handshake, softening over time. It's high on the hedonism scale.
Other Vintages
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Robert
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This Herculean effort involved the careful matching of varietal and clonal selections, trellising and irrigation to the nine distinct soil types formed by the ancient Missoula floods, winds and volcanic activity. The outcome is a vineyard articulated into many small "micro-blocks," to meet the management demands of this unique and dynamic site. Due to the rough, rocky nature of the acreage and elevations ranging from 960 to 1,230 feet, mechanization is virtually impossible in the upper portion of Force Majeure, requiring true "farming by hand." Yet the lower blocks of the vineyard are comprised of deep, well-drained Warden soils.
Thus, the diversity of our vineyard results in a versatility that allows us to grow a variety of compelling fruit characterized by stunning intensity, depth and concentration, complex flavors and fine tannins. We nurture a variety of Bordeaux and Rhone varietals at this special site and look forward to sharing, quite literally, the "fruits of our labor" with you.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
A coveted source of top quality red grapes among premier Washington producers, the Red Mountain AVA is actually the smallest appellation in the state. As its name might suggest, it is actually neither a mountain nor is it composed of red earth. Instead the appellation is an anticline of the Yakima fold belt, a series of geologic folds that define a number of viticultural regions in the surrounding area. It is on the eastern edge of Yakima Valley with slopes facing southwest towards the Yakima River, ideal for the ripening of grapes. The area’s springtime proliferation of cheatgrass, which has a reddish color, actually gives the area the name, "Red" Mountain.
Red Mountain produces some of the most mineral-driven, tannic and age-worthy red wines of Washington and there are a few reasons for this. It is just about the hottest appellation with normal growing season temperatures commonly reaching above 90F. The soil is particularly poor in nutrients and has a high pH, which results in significantly smaller berry sizes compared to varietal norms. The low juice to skin ratio in smaller berries combined with the strong, dry summer winds, leads to higher tannin levels in Red Mountain grapes.
The most common red grape varieties here are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Syrah, among others. Limited white varieties are grown, namely Sauvignon blanc.
The reds of the area tend to express dark black and blue fruit, deep concentration, complex textures, high levels of tannins and as previously noted, have good aging capabilities.