2009 Force Majeure Collaboration Series VI Ciel du Cheval Vineyard

The Force Majeure 2009 Ciel du Cheval Vineyard Collaboration Series VI represents the inauguration of a new bottling, vinified by James Mantone of Syncline and intended to showcase Mourvedre, here blended with 28% Grenache, and 24% Syrah. Impressions of jellied Damson plum and blueberry with chocolate syrup are backed-up by the fullness and ester-rich intensity borne of 14.9% alcohol, though, fortunately, no heat or roughness. That said, high-alcohol might be a factor in this bottling’s, for now at least, slightly disappointing lack of textural allure: it’s simply rather glassy and firm in feel, an odd juxtaposition with a wine of such confitured and confectionary ripeness. A hint of black pepper and nutty, toasty notes indicative of the well more than half new wood employed here inflect an impressively persistent finish. (There is talk of vinifying Mourvedre here – at least from the Force Majeure estate fruit – in concrete and aging in larger barrels, which strikes me as an approach with encouraging precedents for very ripe renditions of this grape.) I won’t try to speculate as to the aging potential of this first-ever such collaboration. 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.”