Force Majeure estate spotlight
Allison Wallace of AdVINEtures is on camera at Force Majeure's renovated schoolhouse tasting room, the house that bottled this 2021 Epinette from the Red Mountain estate.
The market on this bottle
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2021 Force Majeure Vineyards Epinette Red Mountain, USA
Todd Alexander's Right Bank-shaped Red Mountain blend, Owen Bargreen 99, a 225-case 2021 you can open at seventy-five dollars.
The 2021 Epinette is 62 percent Merlot with 22 percent Cabernet Franc and 16 percent Cabernet Sauvignon: black forest cake, loganberry, espresso, and graphite after 22 months in 65 percent new French oak, now $75.
A 225-case Red Mountain blend with Pomerol proportions, not a Napa leftover
Epinette is Force Majeure's estate-grown Right Bank idea: Merlot and Cabernet Franc from deep, well-drained lower blocks on Red Mountain. Owen Bargreen gave the 2021 99 points and a 2024 to 2045 window. International Wine Report scored it 98. Two hundred twenty-five cases. This is the bottle that puts Todd Alexander's Red Mountain work on a serious table.
The house
Paul and Susan McBride planted Force Majeure on Red Mountain. Todd Alexander, formerly of Bryant Family, made the 2021 from estate fruit.
The wine
62% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc, 16% Cabernet Sauvignon. Native yeast in stainless steel and concrete. 22 months in 65% new French oak. Unfined and unfiltered.
The scores
Owen Bargreen 99, drink 2024 to 2045. International Wine Report 98. Exact-vintage acclaim, not a blended average.
The drinker
Decant 60 to 90 minutes. Serve 60 to 62 F. Beef Wellington, duck with cherry, or roast beef.
Black-fruit plushness with graphite at the edges
Owen Bargreen found floral lift, plush weight, black forest cake, loganberry, espresso, and graphite. International Wine Report added red cherry, wild blueberry, crushed rock, red flowers, cinnamon, and sage in a poised, balanced frame.
Bargreen called the 2021s the finest Force Majeure wines he had tasted. Epinette is the Merlot-led chapter: plush now, built to live. The published window runs through 2045.
Black forest cake, loganberry, red cherry, wild blueberry, dried red flowers, cinnamon, sage.
Plush weight, serious texture, graphite and crushed rock, 22 months in 65% new French oak.
Espresso and mineral. Decant 60 to 90 minutes. Serve 60 to 62 F.
Native yeast and concrete first, then 22 months of French oak
On the official 2021 Epinette sheet, the blend is 62 percent Merlot, 22 percent Cabernet Franc, and 16 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, all from Force Majeure's Red Mountain estate. Fruit was fully destemmed and berry sorted, then fermented with native yeast in stainless steel and concrete. Twenty-two months in 65 percent new French oak adds shape. Bottling unfined and unfiltered keeps the depth. Yield: 225 cases.
Merlot supplies the generous center. Cabernet Franc adds perfume and line. Cabernet Sauvignon braces the finish. Lower-estate soils are deep and well drained, less rocky than the Rhone blocks.
Give it 60 to 90 minutes of air. The tannin is real. The fruit is already singing.
A Libourne road, written in Red Mountain fruit
Epinette takes its name from an avenue in Libourne that leads toward Pomerol and Saint-Emilion, then farms that idea on a Washington hillside.
Paul McBride and vineyard manager Ryan Johnson built Force Majeure around painstaking Red Mountain farming, with Bordeaux and Rhone varieties placed by soil and exposure.
Todd Alexander arrived from Bryant Family in 2014 and turned the estate into a precise, small-lot house. The 2021 Epinette is his Right Bank bottling from that decade.
Climb the original estate and the name makes sense: Merlot and Cabernet Franc in deep soils, mountain concentration, a polished shape that still has a mineral edge.
Two rich plates for a plush, mineral frame
Choose browned beef and mushroom depth, or let duck and fresh cherry echo the wine's fruit and spice.
Two plates. One Beef Wellington. One duck breast with fresh cherry sauce. Both can take Epinette's dark fruit and graphite.
Serve 60 to 62 F. Decant 60 to 90 minutes while the Wellington or duck rests.
Gordon Ramsay's Beef Wellington
Beef fillet, mushroom duxelles, Parma ham, pastry, and red wine sauce meet Epinette at its darkest and most generous.
Why it works: Beef and pastry soften the firm structure. Mushrooms pull espresso, graphite, and savory detail forward.
View Recipe for Gordon Ramsay's Beef Wellington (opens in a new tab)
Duck Breasts with Fresh Cherry Sauce
Crisp-skinned duck with cherries, red wine, balsamic, and honey makes a brighter counterpoint to the dense center.
Why it works: Duck handles the tannin. Sweet-tart cherry mirrors the red and black fruit without crowding the floral lift.
View Recipe for duck breasts with fresh cherry sauce (opens in a new tab)Put this Red Mountain blend in the cart
Owen Bargreen 99. 225 cases. Seventy-five dollars against a $175 typical retail.
Put it in the cart. This is the Force Majeure bottle for a table that wants Right Bank shape with a mountain edge.
