Matriarch Flora Komes was born in Hawaii and Flora Springs has always had a natural affinity for all things Hawaiian. Yesterday, Flora Springs hosted the Preferred Palates Wine Club Pick Up party on a warm sunny afternoon at The Estate with a traditional luau theme. Guests got the chance to make their own leis while enjoying the sounds of the islands with the “chuck-a-chuck” acoustics and whispery nylon strings of the traditional luau-style ukulele music.Tastings of the current Wild Boar barrel sample, as well as Wild Boar library vintages were enjoyed with the festive pairing of a whole roast pig.Learn more about our Wine Clubs and the benefits of each.
One our fun and favorite events of the year is the Purple Teeth Barrel Tasting and Great Tastes Members’ Pick Up Party that was held on Sunday at The Room. As usual, The Purple Teel Barrel Tasting included a barrel seminar led by Flora Springs Associate Winemaker Enrico Bertoz. It was a fun but educational exploration of the impact of using different coopers on Flora Springs wines straight from the barrel.
The event is held annually for our Great Tastes Members and since this year was on a Sunday, our theme was a relaxing ‘Sunday Brunch’.
Who wouldn’t want chicken and waffles from The Waffle Roost, the perfect fare for Sunday Brunch?
Guests were entertained with live music by provided by a collaboration between Jules Leyhe and Tapper Dan (John Devoto) and Ivy Hill Entertainment.
Thank you to all our Great Tastes Members who could join us, we appreciate you and raise our glasses to your continued support of Flora Springs!
Flora Springs continually strives to make our Wine Club Memberships as fulfilling, convenient, and personalized as possible, which is why we are excited to share a brand-new Wine Club benefit with you! Beginning in April with our Preferred Palates wine club and in May with our Great Tastes wine club, members will be able to personally customize Wine Club selections by swapping select wines as well as adding on wines to each Club shipment.
We call it Elect to Select, and much like the previous “one-click” add-on emails members are accustomed to, Elect to Select puts specific wine preferences at your very own fingertips. Think of it as your very own tailor-made Wine Club that offers an easy way to get your favorite Flora Springs wines conveniently in one wine delivery, six times a year, with no additional shipping costs incurred. Members will have the opportunity to Elect to Select before every Club shipment moving forward. In general, the 2-week window to customize will end the last day of the month before each shipment.
*Please note, that if you are swapping wine, the system requires each member keep at least one bottle from their original Wine Club shipment.
Of course, if you are currently pleased with our existing offerings, no action is required; you will continue to receive our Single Vineyard Cabernets, Trilogy and Flora’s Legacy Cabernet as scheduled. Members who prefer to pick up their wine are also welcome to customize.
Below is a detailed, step-by- step instruction guide on how to get started with this new member benefit:
To get started with Elect to Select visit FloraSprings.com and log into your account with your Username and Password.
Next, click “Customize Upcoming Membership Order.” Please note that if you are not seeing “Customize Upcoming Membership Order” then you may not be a club member or the order window to make changes may be closed.
Review Club Level and Make Note of Deadline to Customize Your Shipment, Click “Customize Your Order.”
Review “Order Requirements.” This area will show you your Wine Club order threshold based on your current Wine Club level. For example, if you are a Preferred Palates, 6-Bottle Club Member, then you will add a minimum of 6 bottles and meet the minimum dollar value listed below when swapping or adding wines. As you make changes you will see whether you have or have not met the minimum requirements and can make adjustments as needed.What is so great about this system is that you can select wines from our Offered Items list to customize your shipment. You will notice that your standard wine club membership discount is reflected on the offered items showing you your added savings on these wines. Also, keep in mind that you may add up to 12 bottles with no additional shipping incurred.
5. Once completed review the “Order Summary” to ensure all requirements have been met, then click “Review Order” to review your final wine selections. 6. Final step, please review your order and input any special instructions. 7. Congratulations! You have now just customized your Flora Springs Wine Club shipment. We sincerely hope you enjoy and use this new benefit and we welcome any feedback or questions. Please contact us at 800.913.1118 or email wineclub@florasprings.com to discuss how we can ensure your shipments meet your preferences.
Due to an unexpected development – as well as variances in winter weather across the country – the Great Tastes March shipment may be delayed, depending upon your delivery location:
States west of the Rockies: Currently on track to ship March 12th
States east of the Rockies: Great Tastes Red Wines Only will ship March 12th
States east of the Rockies: Great Tastes and Great Tastes White Wines Only will ship March 19th
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at (800) 913-1118 or wineclub@florasprings.com.
We are so grateful for the continued support of you, our Wine Club members. We have a lot of exciting things planned for members in 2018, including new exclusive events, special offers, and more. We so pleased you are joining us for another great year!
Please remember that this schedule is subject to change, but we will always keep you updated.
We love hearing what our club members are up to, and no one has his ear to the ground like Wine Club Director Kenny Werle. Recently Kenny tipped us off to one of our Preferred Palates club members, Bob Brinker, who has an invigorating hobby to say the least. Here’s his story.
What do the island of Alcatraz, a San Francisco Giants baseball game and a glass of Flora Springs Trilogy have in common? If you’re Bob Brinker, a Preferred Palates club member from Atlanta, plenty!
It was August 13, 2016 when Bob undertook what very few people will ever do in their lifetimes: he swam across the San Francisco Bay to Alcatraz, the island best known for its historic prison. It was Bob’s third time participating in what is known as the Alcatraz Sharkfest Swim, a 1.5 mile open water event that, as its website says, is NOT for NOVICES.
“The first year I did it the Bay was like a lake; it was calm and gorgeous,” says Bob, who took up open water swimming as an adult. “The second time it was choppier and we had to wait for several cargo ships to go by. This year the temperature was warm, but the currents were so strong that the course ended up being 1.7 instead of 1.5 miles.”
After celebrating his accomplishment with an Irish coffee at the The Buena Vista along with his son, Jarrod, who also swam the course, Bob headed over to AT&T Park for SF Giants Game Day with Flora Springs. “The Game Day happened to coincide with the swim, so I bought tickets with a couple of my friends who are also club members. It was a great way to cap off the day.”
This wasn’t the first time Bob combined swimming and Flora Springs. The first year he did the Alcatraz swim he slipped in a visit to Napa Valley. “I did the swim with a buddy and since both our wives like wine we decided to spend some time in Napa. That’s when I first visited Flora Springs.”
It was Bob’s mother who recommended Flora Springs. She’d been to the winery years before and been impressed with the wines and the beautiful setting. That day, as Bob and his wife sat on the patio tasting wines, their host was talking about the Merlot, and Bob said “I like the Merlot but I really love this Trilogy.” Later, he called his stepfather who told him, “Your mom liked all the Flora Springs wines but she really loved Trilogy.”
As Bob says, “coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.”
If you have a story involving Flora Springs that you’d like to share, be sure to let Kenny know!
“The Cubs are World Series Champions. OMG I really just typed that.” Those were the words of Great Tastes Club member Brenda Garcia in an email to Wine Club Director Kenny Werle after her favorite team, the Chicago Cubs, did what was previously unthinkable: win the 2016 World Series!
Kenny and Brenda started corresponding when Kenny put out feelers to Chicago-area club members to gauge their interest in attending a Wine Club-sponsored event at a Cubs game (Brenda’s answer: YES). They swapped emails and talked baseball, enjoying a friendly rivalry between the SF Giants (Kenny’s favorite) and the Chicago Cubs, until after the playoffs, when Kenny started rooting for the Cubs. Brenda, who is almost as big a fan of Flora Springs as the Chicago Cubs, told Kenny about bringing a bottle of Flora’s Halloween wine to Game Seven (good luck omen?), and then, as seen in the photos here, bringing Flora’s Harvest Witch Cabernet to the Cubs’ World Series Parade. That Flora gets around!
We love hearing how Flora Springs wines become part of our club members’ lives and celebrations. To us, that’s what the joy of wine is all about. Here’s what Brenda had to say as she forwarded photo after photo of the Harvest Witch at the parade:
“Thanks for enjoying the road to the championship with me, Kenny! I started as your customer, & we grew to a friendly rivalry between the Giants & Cubs playoffs and then you rooting for the Cubs. It’s been really great getting to know you on a personal level from afar.”
Thank you, Brenda. We couldn’t have said it any better.
Every holiday season, on behalf of the Komes and Garvey family, Wine Club Director Kenny Werle faithfully selects a charming and unique holiday gift exclusively for our Wine Club members.
This year’s gift is particularly meaningful as with it, we also honor Flora Komes, our matriarch. It was Flora’s spirit of generosity and love of nature that inspired the family to found the winery back in 1978.
Included in the Great Tastes November shipment is a tree of “Christmas Future” – a Giant Sequoia seedling. While native to the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, where proud giants such as the ‘General Sherman’ and ‘General Grant’ trees have wowed National Park visitors for years, Giant Sequoias are hardy enough to grow well in virtually any climate, and are loved and cultivated throughout the world. This truly majestic species, the most massive of all trees, can live thousands of years and attain monumental size, up to 300 feet tall with trunks almost 40 feet in diameter.
It is our hope that you plant this special tree, and through the years, find your own inspiration and joy.
As always, we are so grateful for the continued support of our Wine Club members. We have a lot of exciting things planned for members in 2017, including new exclusive events, special offers, and more. We so pleased you are joining us for another great year!
Please remember that this schedule is subject to change, but we will always keep you updated.
Every December, Wine Club Director Kenny Werle faithfully selects a charming and unique holiday ornament exclusively for our Wine Club members.
This year, the ornaments are particularly personal – as each and every one was handmade by members of Winemaker Paul Steinauer’s family.
Below is a note from Matt Steinauer, Paul’s younger brother, who currently lives in Austin, Texas.
Cork Magic
It began as a fun family project to keep the kids busy during the holidays. Each individual ornament is handmade with corks, twine, ribbon, hot glue – and Texas love.
Each family member has their own role in the production process. I cut the corks into the specific pieces. Grant, age 8, helps count all the pieces and cuts twine lengths. Sophia, age 11, helps with the production logistics, quality control, and keeps the craft table in order. My wife Vanessa and Sophia glue all the pieces together to bring them to life.
Busy Little Elves – Sophia and Grant – in our Holiday Workshop
Naturally, Vanessa and I are long-time fans of Flora Springs. While Sophia and Grant are still a little too young to appreciate the fabulous wines their uncle makes, they always enjoy their visits to see Uncle Pauli and the winery.
Uncle Pauli with Sophia and Grant in the Wine Caves at the Flora Springs Estate
We love to spread the word of Flora Springs, and are excited to participate in this year’s Wine Club holiday ornament.
As you hang your special ornament on your tree, menorah, festivus pole, or whatever you choose, know that it was made with love by the extended Flora Springs family.
Guests got the chance to make their own leis while enjoying the sounds of the islands with the “chuck-a-chuck” acoustics and whispery nylon strings of the traditional luau-style ukulele music.
Tastings of the current Wild Boar barrel sample, as well as Wild Boar library vintages were enjoyed with the festive pairing of a whole roast pig.
Learn more about our Wine Clubs and the benefits of each.
One our fun and favorite events of the year is the Purple Teeth Barrel Tasting and Great Tastes Members’ Pick Up Party that was held on Sunday at The Room. As usual, The Purple Teel Barrel Tasting included a barrel seminar led by Flora Springs Associate Winemaker Enrico Bertoz. It was a fun but educational exploration of the impact of using different coopers on Flora Springs wines straight from the barrel.
The event is held annually for our Great Tastes Members and since this year was on a Sunday, our theme was a relaxing ‘Sunday Brunch’.
Who wouldn’t want chicken and waffles from 
Guests were entertained with live music by provided by a collaboration between Jules Leyhe and Tapper Dan (John Devoto) and Ivy Hill Entertainment.
