“To ensure we are obtaining only the most premium fruit, we have had to make the difficult decision to replant vineyards when the quality starts to deteriorate due to various forms of vine disease. Two of our Cabernet blocks in our Oakville Crossroads vineyards have recently been pulled out. This vineyard site in Oakville at our Crossroads vineyard had previously been planted to Chardonnay, and has now been re-developed and will be planted to Cabernet very soon.
This is a newly-planted vineyard, also at our Oakville Crossroads vineyards. This was formerly Pinot Grigio, and has also now been planted to Cabernet.
Crews are currently going through all of our vineyard blocks and suckering. Buds, or nodes at the base of the leaves, produce shoots called laterals or suckers. By doing this, more energy is focused on the vine – which increases grape quality. It also keeps the vine off the ground, and helps prevent unwanted molds and various insects.
The area between the nodes, the internodes, are supported with adjustable ties which are attached to guide wires. As the vines mature during the growing season, the guide wires – and thereby the vines – will be raised on the trellis system. The vines will be trained in such a way as to evenly distribute the clusters of fruit, and the canopy of leaves will protect the fruit from direct sunlight in order to prevent burn. The canopy will be open just enough to allow filtered light, as well as sufficient airflow throughout the vineyard.
Finally, we have the start of bloom in our Hillside Reserve Cabernet Vineyard.”
#ChardonnayDay: Join the 8th Annual Global Celebration of the Chardonnay Grape
After thirty years of crafting world renowned wines, the Flora Springs name has become synonymous with perfectly balanced Napa Valley Chardonnay. The legacy began when our inaugural vintage in 1978 was awarded a gold medal at the Orange County Fair. A few years later our status of gold was bronzed when James Laube selected Flora Springs as one of his “First Growth” producers of Chardonnay in his book California’s Great Chardonnays.
Enter to win: Tweet or Instagram with us on May 25th using hashtag #ChardonnayDay and @florasprings in your tweets/posts. We will pick one lucky Flora Springs fan using #ChardonnayDay and tagging us in their tweet or Instagram post! You could win a Flora Springs prize pack.*
*Must be 21+ to enter. Void where prohibited. Wine will not be included in prize pack. Chance of winning depends on number of entries.
By John Komes This time let’s talk about a couple of the great utilitarian wines that will complement a whole host of foods that we eat quite often. Let’s discuss one white wine and one red wine.
Sauvignon Blanc is the white wine I have chosen to focus on. The Sauvignon Blanc grape can be grown in a multitude of climates with varied results. It can take hot or cold climates. The hot climate tends to yield grapes with high sugars which leads to a fuller wine with sweet heavy flavors. The grapes grown in cooler climates usually will contain sharp fruity flavors with a very crisp finish. Of course, the moderate climate gives the best results with great fruit flavors of melon, honey and citrus. All three styles of wine can suit a large range of food pairings. The wine is especially good with green vegetables such as celery, asparagus and brussel sprouts, but it is also good with entrées like white fish, shell fish, chicken and pork. Sauvignon Blanc is a terrific cocktail on a hot Arizona summer evening. The crisp flavors of the wine replenish the palate.
Now we will move on to Merlot. Merlot is a very likable mild flavored red wine that can be consumed young. I often compare a Merlot grape to the blueberry of the berry family. Just as a blueberry has a pleasing flavor it lacks the long full aftertaste that other berries like strawberry or blackberry have. For me, the pedigree of any wine is in the finish. So, the good producers of Merlot generally blend some other varietals such as Malbec or Petit Verdot to add length and fullness to the wine. Cabernet Sauvignon, was the primary blending wine for years but it changes the flavor pattern of the wine to a mellow Cabernet rather than a full-flavored Merlot. Because of these new blending techniques now used for Merlot enhancing the natural flavors rather than changing the flavor pattern, Merlot is one of the fastest growing varietals in the marketplace. Merlot does have a place on your table, it is the perfect complement with lamb or duck.
To me, the real value of a bottle of wine lies in what you eat with it and who you share it with. When I select a wine I always imagine the food that I’ll serve, and if possible the characteristics of the person or people with whom I will share it. At our table, one of our favorite topics of conversation has to do with the wine we’re drinking and the food we’re enjoying it with.
Let’s say I’ve selected Chardonnay as the white wine and Cabernet Sauvignon as the red wine. In my opinion, Chardonnay is the Queen of the wine world and Cabernet Sauvignon is the King. Winemakers love to work with these varietals because of the naturally full flavors that come from the fruit. Plus, there are many more complex flavors that arise during the fermentation and aging processes.
I like Chardonnays that are full-bodied, meaning they show weight on the palate. At Flora Springs, we like to have a slight creaminess to the wine and at the same time preserve the acidity so it will finish clean on the palate. The flavors experienced should be in the range of fresh-picked fruit such as pears or peaches. One should be able to taste a delicacy of honey with a slight lactic tone. My favorite food pairing with Chardonnay is lobster or even better, lobster bisque. The buttery character of the lobster and creaminess of the bisque are perfect with a well-made Chardonnay. And my favorite companion to share this pairing would be my wife, Carrie.
Now for the King. Cabernet Sauvignon berries are small and intensely concentrated; they don’t carry a lot of liquid that would dilute their flavor. I think of the Cabernet grape as masculine with its tannic structure. The tannins give the flavors of cassis and blackberries a ride on the palate, but the palate doesn’t getting overly saturated with fruit flavors. Thus, Cabernet is perfect with a medium rare steak; it cleanses the palate of the fatty meat flavors and leaves a lasting impression of structured fruit. Again, Carrie is my preferred partner with Cabernet, along with the rest of my extended family!
I hope you enjoy my passionate description of the wines I love. May your next bottle of wine be enjoyed in good company!
It was 1994 when we created our first Single Vineyard Cabernet from our estate vineyard in Rutherford – the Rutherford Hillside Reserve. Three years later we added a Cabernet Sauvignon from the St. Helena portion of our estate, a wine that would become known as our Rennie Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Today we offer five Single Vineyard Cabernets, each one from particular blocks within our estate vineyards that consistently produce wines that stand head and shoulders above the rest.
As far as the 2014 vintage goes, here’s what Robert M. Parker, Jr. had to say:
“I thought this was a very good to excellent vintage when tasting from barrel, but I now have to rate it as another superlative year based on how the wines showed from bottle.” –October 2016
Notes from Winemaker Paul Steinauer:
“2014 was celebrated by Napa Valley vintners as another vintage for the record books. Heavy winter rains nourished the vines as they emerged from dormancy, and a warm, relatively frost-free spring allowed bud break, flowering and fruit set to proceed without interruption. Continued warm, dry weather throughout the summer brought the grapes to perfect ripeness in a harvest that was relatively early and also bountiful.”
Our Preferred Palates Wine Club Members have a guaranteed allocation of these very limited wines. Learn more about the benefits of membership.
We’ve once again commissioned Melissa and Mercedes Baker, known as The Baker Sisters, to create several seasonal art installations at The Room this year.
As a celebration of Arts in April and Earth Day, currently installed on the exterior of the tasting room is “Imagine” – a living tribute to Flora Komes, our mother, grandmother, and the woman who inspired the founding of Flora Springs Winery.
Visit any day in April to witness this tremendous artistic feat. Then, step inside for an art-centric flight of select wines and peruse a curated gallery – featuring some of the most popular visual artists in the valley. Every weekend we will feature a mix of live music, live paint sessions, a barbershop quartet, and spontaneous songs courtesy of BottleRock’s – and our own – Serf & James.
Join us after-hours for our Flora’s Social Open House on April 21st. Learn more and RSVP by April 19th.
“Love the land and it will love you back,” as Flora said, and after 40 years of winemaking over three generations, this remains at the heart of Flora Spring’s mission.
Join us for the for seventh annual global online celebration for one of our favorite varietals, Sauvignon Blanc.
Not many wineries can claim to have their own proprietary clone, but our “Soliloquy” clone of Sauvignon Blanc, certified by UC Davis in the 1980s, earns us membership in this very exclusive club. We’re so enamored of this clone that we named a vineyard after it, our Soliloquy Vineyard in the Oakville appellation. Oakville is traditionally Cabernet Sauvignon country, but our family has nurtured these special vines of Sauvignon Blanc as a testament to this extraordinary site and to the potential for Soliloquy – our Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc – to stand side by side with Trilogy, our flagship red wine.
First observed in 1958, National Library Week is sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April. It is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation’s libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support.
This year, National Library Week will be observed April 9-15, with the theme “Libraries Transform.”
Nat Komes, third generation family member and Flora Springs General Manager, has a particular affinity for libraries, as his mother worked as a librarian when he was growing up. Nat developed a great love of reading, which continues to this day, and which he is sharing with his own children now. In fact, after spending time at the library reading to them, Nat has found inspiration for several of his wine projects.
We will be celebrating National Library Week, as well as the 40th anniversary of the winery, by opening our wine library. Library wines are older, unique, and rare wines that have been purposefully stored to age. Like libraries transform minds, the aging process transforms wine – often in unexpected and delightful ways.
Stay tuned as we will be releasing select library wines, available exclusively online.
Join us at The Room or The Estate for our limited-time Libraries Transform tasting experience and discover for yourself how age has transformed the 1989, 1995, and 2011 vintages of Trilogy.
We will also be celebrating with live music at The Room on April 8th and April 15th.
You can also join us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram – and follow along with hashtags #NationalLibraryWeek and #LibrariesTransform.
“Well, it’s that time of year again – The drought appears to be behind us, at least for the moment. Since the New Year, we have received more rainfall than we average for the entire year. Fortunately, all of Flora Springs vineyards drain quite well, and this has supplied much needed water to top off all of our reservoirs as well as adding to our water table. Between the rains, we did experience some warm days. This is when the starch in the vines post dormancy, converts to sugar, where sap begins to flow through the vine. As the days become warmer, buds start to swell, and finally burst, creating a new shoot.
What you see in this picture is bud break on our Malbec vineyard at Komes Ranch at Flora Springs Estate. In about 6 months, grapes from these vines will make their way to the winery, and eventually find their way into Trilogy.” – Winemaker Paul Steinauer
KG3 is the brainchild of Nat Komes and Sean Garvey, cousins and third-generation vintners who’ve spent their lives in the wine environs of Napa Valley. Their parents and grandparents founded Flora Springs Winery in 1978; at the time, it was one of the few bonded wineries in Napa Valley.
The 2016 KG3 Rosé is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese and Syrah sourced from several Napa Valley vineyards. We made the wine using a classic technique known as Saignée – or Bleeding – in which the grape skins remain in contact with the juice for a very short period of time so as not to impart too much color. After hand picking, the red grapes are crushed and separated from the stems and placed in a stainless steel tank. As the skins separate from the juice they rise to the top, forming a cap. Shortly thereafter, we open a valve at the bottom of the tank and a portion of the pink juice is pumped into another tank for fermentation and aging.
This youthful and beautifully-hued wine shows a penetrating nose of raspberry and dried cranberry with fragrant nuances of orange blossom and rosé petal. In the mouth the wine is fresh, bright and juicy, with a dense core of red cherry and tinges of minerality.
This time let’s talk about a couple of the great utilitarian wines that will complement a whole host of foods that we eat quite often. Let’s discuss one white wine and one red wine.
