2009 Force Majeure Collaboration Series III Ciel du Cheval Vineyard

The Force Majeure 2009 Ciel du Cheval Vineyard Collaboration Series III employs four clones of Syrah and was vinified by Mark McNeilly (with his assistant Mike Macmorran) of the Mark Ryan winery, who chose to utilize just one-third new barriques, in which the wine finished its primary fermentation. Vanilla and marzipan lend a surprisingly confectionary cast on a glycerol-rich palate to an amalgam of cherry preserves and creme de cassis, happily underlain by suggestions of roasted red meats that lend saliva inducement and savory counterpoint in a lingering, luscious finish. I was surprised at the extent to which this reflected its oak component given the stated percentage of new wood; but it was on this occasion that I made the following important discovery: in Washington, when vintners speak of “neutral” barrels, they may well – as in this instance – be referring to barrels that have been used only once previously! My intuition suggests that this will be worth following for at least 5-7 years. Entrepreneur Paul McBride and vineyard manager Ryan Johnson began what was then known as Grand Reve (but due to a trademark dispute subsequently re-named Force Majeure) in 2005, choosing specific parcels from the Ciel du Cheval Vineyard that Johnson farms, and having a range of small lots each vinified by a different well-established Washington winemaker with an ownership share in the wine; at his or her own facility; and with no expense spared by McBride to achieve that winemaker’s vision for the fruit in question. Meantime, McBride and Johnson planted a vineyard of their own in the improbably steep, stony slopes above Ciel du Cheval, with single post-trained (en echalas) vines that, as I mentioned in the introduction to this report, give this site the look of a cross between really steep Mosel, Cote Rotie and a stone quarry. “I didn’t exactly trick him into this,” says Johnson, jocularly yet deadly serious, of his partner McBride. “But I did e-mail him pictures of Guigal’s vineyards, and Chapoutier’s. There’s romance there, sure, but I’ll tell you the truth: I spray every row on that hillside myself, and it’s dangerous. I’m still young enough to do that kind of work – and if I go down, then Paul can take the reins! But, if one of my workers were to do it and get injured, we’d have real trouble on our hands.” The first harvest from this estate vineyard was of Viognier in 2010, blended with a majority of fruit from next-door Ciel du Cheval. Just who will take responsibility for the first estate red wine remains to be seen, though a decision will have to be rendered very soon. (Shockingly, the first – 2010 – crop of Mourvedre was stolen in what has to have been a carefully planned, high-risk, surgically executed heist that left the peripheral rows unscathed, thereby delaying discovery. Despite a stiff reward, apparently no serious suspect has been fingered.) As his small estate vineyard comes into production, McBride says he has no intention of curtailing his aforementioned Ciel du Cheval “Collaboration” series, “not as long as they’re enjoying it and we’re enjoying it and it’s working for all parties.”