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Force Majeure Red Blend Epinette 2017 750ml

size
750ml
country
United States
appellation
Yakima Valley
subappellation
Red Mountain
WA
94
VM
93
WS
92
Additional vintages
2017 2015 2014
WA
94
Rated 94 by Wine Advocate
A blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2017 Épinette opens with a clean and expressive core of black raspberry and dusty plum skin with subtle dried herbs lurking on the nose. The wine is medium to full-bodied and mineral-driven on the palate, with dusty and ripe blackberry and touches of fern and sage. The wine ends with a focused and long-lasting finish with delightful Kirsh flavors and subtle hints of oak. With only 390 cases made, this will make a lovely addition to any cellar. ... More details
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Force Majeure Red Blend Epinette 2017 750ml

SKU 898336
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$88.95
/750ml bottle
Quantity
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Professional Ratings
WA
94
VM
93
WS
92
WA
94
Rated 94 by Wine Advocate
A blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2017 Épinette opens with a clean and expressive core of black raspberry and dusty plum skin with subtle dried herbs lurking on the nose. The wine is medium to full-bodied and mineral-driven on the palate, with dusty and ripe blackberry and touches of fern and sage. The wine ends with a focused and long-lasting finish with delightful Kirsh flavors and subtle hints of oak. With only 390 cases made, this will make a lovely addition to any cellar.
VM
93
Rated 93 by Vinous Media
Saturated bright medium ruby. Pungent scents of blackberry, cassis, licorice, minerals, graphite and bitter chocolate, with a hint of violet lift. Then plush, savory and deep in the mouth, with the Merlot creaminess to the fore. Very broad, concentrated flavors of dark berries and graphite minerality saturate the palate and blow past the wine's substantial, dusty but fine-grained tannins on the long back end. This big boy maintains its shape, no doubt partly due to the firming influence of its Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot components. This highly successful Right Bank blend shows more of a Pomerol than a Saint-Emilion plushness of texture, supported by solid tannic structure.
WS
92
Rated 92 by Wine Spectator
A brooding core of tannins is wrapped in refined and tightly focused currant, crushed stone and bay leaf accents that build tension on the finish. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Best from 2022 through 2030. 390 cases made.
Winery
Épinette is our Right-bank Bordeaux-inspired blend, and was named after an avenue in Libourne that leads to Pomerol and Saint-Émilion, the home of Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Épinette is also the name of a musical instrument akin to a piano, as well as a word for pine tree, which is a fitting nod to our home in Washington state. The wine itself is a blend of primarily Merlot and Cabernet Franc, with smaller amounts of Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot, proportions of which change depending on the vintage. The Merlot and Cabernet Franc are grown in lower areas of our vineyard with deep, well-drained soils, much less rocky than the soils of our Rhone varietals. Before bottling, this wine evolves for approximately 22 months in mostly new French oak, after a long maceration and fermentation in concrete and stainless steel vats. This wine, along with our Cabernet Sauvignon, should age exceptionally well.
Product Details
size
750ml
country
United States
appellation
Yakima Valley
subappellation
Red Mountain
Additional vintages
2017 2015 2014
Overview
A blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2017 Épinette opens with a clean and expressive core of black raspberry and dusty plum skin with subtle dried herbs lurking on the nose. The wine is medium to full-bodied and mineral-driven on the palate, with dusty and ripe blackberry and touches of fern and sage. The wine ends with a focused and long-lasting finish with delightful Kirsh flavors and subtle hints of oak. With only 390 cases made, this will make a lovely addition to any cellar.
barrel

Region: Washington State

Since it began in the 1820s, wine-production in Washington state has gone from strength to strength, with many of the finest United States wines coming out over the past twenty years hailing from this region. Today, the state is the second largest US producer of wines, behind California, with over forty thousand acres under vine. The state itself is split into two distinct wine regions, separated by the Cascade Range, which casts an important rain shadow over much of the area. As such, the vast majority of vines are grown and cultivated in the dry, arid desert-like area in the eastern half of the state, with the western half producing less than one percent of the state's wines where it is considerably wetter. Washington state is famed for producing many of the most accessible wines of the country, with Merlot and Chardonnay varietal grapes leading the way, and much experimentation with other varietals characterizing the state's produce in the twenty-first century.
fields

Country: United States

Whilst there are several strains of native grape varietals in the United States, it was the introduction of the European species which prompted the country to begin producing wines on a large scale. Over the past few centuries, experimentation and cross-breeding has produced great successes in regards to the quality and suitability of the fruit grown in states such as California, Oregon, Washington and New York, and the past few decades have seen New World wines from the United States reach much higher standards. Arguably the finest United States wines have always come out of California, where the climate and terrroir is most suitable for fine wine production. The masterful blending of classic grape varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, amongst others including Syrah and Chardonnay, have had world beating results in recent years, prompting many to suggest that there has never been a better time for buying and drinking United States wines.
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Winery Force Majeure
barrel

Region: Washington State

Since it began in the 1820s, wine-production in Washington state has gone from strength to strength, with many of the finest United States wines coming out over the past twenty years hailing from this region. Today, the state is the second largest US producer of wines, behind California, with over forty thousand acres under vine. The state itself is split into two distinct wine regions, separated by the Cascade Range, which casts an important rain shadow over much of the area. As such, the vast majority of vines are grown and cultivated in the dry, arid desert-like area in the eastern half of the state, with the western half producing less than one percent of the state's wines where it is considerably wetter. Washington state is famed for producing many of the most accessible wines of the country, with Merlot and Chardonnay varietal grapes leading the way, and much experimentation with other varietals characterizing the state's produce in the twenty-first century.
fields

Country: United States

Whilst there are several strains of native grape varietals in the United States, it was the introduction of the European species which prompted the country to begin producing wines on a large scale. Over the past few centuries, experimentation and cross-breeding has produced great successes in regards to the quality and suitability of the fruit grown in states such as California, Oregon, Washington and New York, and the past few decades have seen New World wines from the United States reach much higher standards. Arguably the finest United States wines have always come out of California, where the climate and terrroir is most suitable for fine wine production. The masterful blending of classic grape varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, amongst others including Syrah and Chardonnay, have had world beating results in recent years, prompting many to suggest that there has never been a better time for buying and drinking United States wines.