Force Majeure Vineyards was originally called Grand Reve. It was founded in Woodinville, near Seattle, in 2004. It was a collaboration between businessman Paul McBride and vineyard manager Ryan Johnson. Johnson had spent a decade managing vineyards in Eastern Washington’s prestigious Red Mountain AVA and he and McBride wanted to focus on Rhone-style varietals. Grand Reve, which means “great dream” in French, was soon winning raves and ratings in the mid-90s from Wine Advocate and other reviews. McBride and his wife Susan then changed the winery name to Force Majeure, and they’ve hired winemaker Todd Alexander to oversee winemaking. Alexander was previously winemaker at Bryant Family Vineyard in Napa Valley. More recently McBride and Johnson have also started a project they call the “collaboration” series in which guest winemakers make wines from Red Mountain grapes. Jeb Dunnick of Wine Advocate has called Force Majeure “One of my favorite estates in Washington… The focus here is always Red Mountain fruit, with grapes pulled mostly from the crème de la crème Ciel du Cheval vineyard, and increasingly from their estate Force Majeure Vineyard as more and more plots come online.”