8/12/2019 California Cult Winemaker Moves to Washington to Craft Wine from Red Mountain

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/california-cult-winemaker-moves-to-washington-to-craft-wine-from-red-mountain 1/1

Cult Winemaker Leaves Napa for WashingtonNOT JUST ANOTHER WINEMAKER HIRE – “IT’S A HISTORIC MOMENT,” SAYS WINERY OWNER.

BY W. BLAKE GRAY | MONDAY, 09-JUN-2014

Does Washington state’s

Red Mountain need more

affirmation o its great-

ness as wine terroir? Last

week winemaker odd

Alexander lef one o Napa Val-

ley’s priciest wineries, Bryant

Family Vineyard, to take a job at

Force Majeure in Washington.

  “As ar as I know, that’s the first

time Washington’s ever been able

to recruit a cult-wine Napa guy to

Washington state,” said Force Ma-

 jeure owner Paul McBride. “It’s a

historic moment or Washington

as a serious wine region. It’s more

serious than just another wine-

maker hire.”

  Alexander, 36, Bryant’s wine-

maker or the past our years, will

no longer be working with the hill-

side vineyard in Napa’s Pritchard

Hill district that produced a string

o high 90s scores in the Wine Ad-

vocate. Instead he will be given the

reedom to make his own mark on

Washington’s Red Mountain.

  “I could’ve stayed at Bryant and

 just kept steering the ship, but it

wasn’t all that exciting to me,” Al-

exander told Wine Searcher. “Te

wines were getting so expensive.

Tat was a turnoff. I want to make

wines I can afford to drink.”

  Force Majeure is a unique op-

portunity because, while it al-

ready has some critical acclaim,

it hasn’t really had a winemaker.

All the company’s previous wines

were part o the Collaboration Se-

ries, where different Washington

winemakers made the wines at

their own acilities.

  Previously known as Grand

Reve, the company has a hill-

side vineyard on Red Mountain

planted to Bordeaux varieties and

Syrah. It had to change its name

afer Domaine Carneros, which

makes a sparkling wine called Le

Reve, complained. McBride said

Domaine Carneros noticed the

newcomer afer its 2007 Caber-

net got 97 points rom Te Wine

Spectator.

  Now, Force Majeure will build

a winery to Alexander’s specifi-

cations in Woodinville, a suburb

o Seattle.

  “Washington’s such a wide-

open place. Everybody knows it

can make wine, but there’s room

to grow,” Alexander explained.

“We’ll try to make really great

wine, but we don’t want to use a

scarcity model to drive up prices.

Tat’s not what we’re trying to do.

Washington doesn’t get enough

credit or its great wine. We’ll see

what we can do.”

  Chris Stone, vice president o

marketing and communications

or the Washington Wine Com-

mission, said: “I would take it as

another sign that Washington

state wines continue to gain mo-

mentum and emerge as a world-

class region. With all the recent

outside investment, and now this

development, I think it’s sae to

say the quality and limitless po-

tential o Washington state are no

longer a secret.”