Winemaker
Notes
Force
Majeure's estate Cabernet Sauvignon is a powerful but elegant, full-bodied wine
that is grown primarily along the southwest ridge of the winery's vineyard, in
soils that are deep and loamy but contain many small rocks of fractured basalt,
concreted ash and even some granite from Missoula flood erratics. The vines
produce small berries with bountiful flavor, concentration and intensity, but
also a good degree of finesse, excellent structure and layers of complexity
that will continue to develop during extended bottle aging for those who want
to cellar and age their wines.
Blend: 93% Cabernet
Sauvignon, 3% Cabernet Franc, 3% Merlot, 1% Petit Verdot
96
points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Like
the Epinette cuvee, the 2014 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon is showing incredibly
well from bottle. Checking in as a blend of 93% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest
small amounts of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, it saw an extended
maceration and spent 22 months in 85% new French oak. It has a beautifully
fresh, focused bouquet of black currants, graphite, smoked earth and chocolate,
as well as full-bodied richness, good acidity and fine, polished tannin that
builds with time in the glass. It's a terrific Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon
that will benefit from 2-4 years of bottle age and keep for two decades.
91
points Wine Spectator
The
aromas are light initially, with notes of cocoa, herb, barrel spice and cherry
not yet fully ready to reveal their charms. The cherry and bittersweet
chocolate flavors are backed by lightly grainy tannins that need some time to
unwind. The wood is intense at present but there are good things underneath.
