Halloween is always a cause for celebration at Flora Springs, and all year long we look forward to releasing our Halloween Wines. Over the last decade, these seasonal bottlings have become some of our most anticipated and highly sought after annual releases.
And though Halloween is different this year, we’re still going big. We’ve partnered with several very creative people who love Halloween as much as we do. Need Halloween inspiration? Look no further.
Creative Inspiration for your Halloween wine party and entertaining with Flora Springs and Recipes
Note: The article excerpted below was originally published in the Napa Valley Register and can be found here.
‘I’ll tell you a story,” John Komes said. He was standing in front of a colorful painting that depicts Flora Springs Winery, which he and his family launched in 1978 in a pre-Prohibition ghost winery in St. Helena.
“We decided we wanted a painting,” he said, recounting how the family invited Cynthia Fitting, an artist living in Sacramento, to come to Flora Springs to talk about a project.
“When she was leaving, her car wouldn’t start.” Fitting flagged down an employee, just leaving the winery, to ask for a jump. Too busy, the man replied, and he hurried off to a sales meeting.
Fitting got the commission and produced the vivid, charming painting, which portrays the winery and its people…”Read more.
Listen in as Anthony Dias Blue of Blue Lifestyle talks about our upcoming release, the 2017 Holy Smoke Cabernet Sauvignon. “Simply put, the wine is stunning… the impressive 2017 Flora Springs Cabernet Sauvignon Holy Smoke Vineyard is a Napa Valley icon…97 points & Double Gold”:
One of the many reasons Napa Valley is such a superb region for growing wine grapes is its incredible diversity. Although a mere 30 miles long and several miles wide, the valley is home to a wide range of microclimates and a vast array of soil types. Over the years, this diversity has led vintners and growers to create defined grape growing areas within Napa Valley. These areas, which reflect their regional designations, are called American Viticultural Areas, or AVAs.
The Napa Valley is itself an AVA having received its own designation in 1981. It is California’s first recognized AVA and the second in the United States. Over time, sixteen “nested” AVAs have been designated within the Napa Valley AVA. Flora Springs owns and farms vineyards in five of these, including the St. Helena, Rutherford, Oakville, Oak Knoll and Los Carneros AVAs.
But what about the places in between, the regions in Napa Valley that are not part of a nested AVA? If you look at a Napa Valley AVA map, you can see there are several areas that lay outside of the nested AVAs, in fact, our Kairos Vineyard, home to our Out of Sight Cabernet Sauvignon, is in one such area.
“Kairos is just south of the Stags Leap District, kind of wedged between the Stags Leap, Oak Knoll and Coombsville AVAs,” says General Manager Nat Komes. “So when we bottle the Out of Sight Cabernet, we use the Napa Valley appellation on the label. But that doesn’t have any bearing on the quality of the vineyard or wine.”
In fact, there are plenty of properties renowned for high quality grapes and wines that do not lie within a nested AVA. Examples include sites that are between the St. Helena and Howell Mountain AVAs as well as vineyards found east of Oakville in the mountainous area known as Pritchard Hill.
For now, says Nat, “The Kairos Vineyard is a perfect example of the quality that can come from areas outside the nested AVA system.” For proof, look no further than Flora Springs Out of Sight Cabernet Sauvignon.
Working as a family and team, we have pledged to over-deliver on wine quality for more than 40 years. Now this dedication has been taken up by third generation family members Nat Komes and Sean Garvey. There is nothing more gratifying to us than hearing from our customers about how much they enjoy our wines. It makes everything we do worthwhile.
While our customers’ feedback is most important to us, we also appreciate it when our wines get noticed by wine critics, reviewers, and bloggers.
Accolades for 2017 Trilogy
93 points Blue Lifestyle “Deep garnet color; soft vanilla nose; silky smooth with soft plum, toast and vanilla new oak; elegant, lush and showing spice and notes of mocha and chocolate, long and balanced.” January 2020
93 points James Suckling “A soft and fruity red with currants, chocolate and hints of toasted oak. Medium to full body. Round tannins and a flavorful finish. Nicely done for the vintage. 80% cabernet sauvignon, 17% petit verdot and 3% malbec. Drink or hold.” February 2020
91 points Jeb Dunnuck “The 2017 Red Blend Trilogy checks in as a blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Petit Verdot, and 3% Malbec. It’s a pretty, elegant wine from this estate and has lots of beautiful black and blue fruits, roasted herbs, chocolate, and gravelly earth-like aromas and flavors. These all carry to a medium to full-bodied blend that has terrific balance, nicely integrated acidity, and a great finish.” February 2020
Wine time: Flora Springs Trilogy 2017, Napa Valley The Augusta Chronicle “…a blockbuster wine, bold and powerful but drinkable upon release. And with a little bit of age it gets even better. The Flora Springs Trilogy 2017 – just released this week – is 80 percent cab, 17 percent petit verdot and three percent malbec. The grapes come from three prestigious regions in Napa: Oakville, Rutherford and St. Helena.
It is a gorgeous deep garnet in the glass with aromas of plum and herbs. Among the complex flavors on the palate I could pick out black plum, black cherry with hints of cola and mocha.
The wine doesn’t overpower, though. With sleek tannins and crisp acidity the wine stays fresh and perfect for matching to food….The wine is so great now, it’s hard to imagine what it will be like if it continues to improve in the bottle. The winery says it should be at its peak between now and 2028. Besides Trilogy, the winery produces several tiers of outstanding wines. The Napa Valley series includes a cab, a merlot, a chardonnay and a sauvignon blanc. They also produce several single vineyard cabs, and a number of artisanal wines that include a barrel fermented chardonnay.”Read more.
—Dennis Sodomka, February 2020
96 points Creators Syndicate “Trilogy was one of the first Bordeaux-style proprietary blends from the Napa Valley when it was introduced 30-some years ago, and it was one of the best of the genre at the time. I am happy to report nothing has changed. One of Napa’s iconic Bordeaux blends, Trilogy 2017, is another masterpiece. Beautifully balanced, with layers of dark fruits, a note of graphite and a beautiful touch of oak vanillin, this is a wine to lay down in the cellar for another 10 to 12 years, though it is remarkably pure, smooth and satisfying at this early stage.”—Robert Whitley, March 2020
Score: 8.5 – 9 VINOGRAPHY®: a wine blog “Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of dusty roads and cedar. In the mouth, black cherry, cola and blueberry notes mix with a touch of black olive savoriness. Faint, taut tannins buff the edges of the palate, as the wine lingers with notes of olive and licorice. A blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Petit Verdot and 3% Malbec.” March 2020
93 points Good Vitis “…Flora Springs was founded in 1978, but its Napa Valley property was first planted with vineyards in the late 1800s so the terroir is for real (it has been replanted since). I’ve had several vintages of the Trilogy and they all deliver. Tasting note:The potent nose offers scorched earth and graphite-infused blackberry, black plum, violet, kirsch and dark chocolate ganache. It is full bodied, balancing lush, smooth and broad tannin with juicy acidity. The balance is really on-point. Flavors include blackberry, coconut, (real) maraschino sauce, black pepper, teriyaki sauce and cigar tobacco. It has a strong core of wet earth minerality. This is nice now with an hour decant, but I imagine it’ll start hitting its stride in five years and drink nicely for the following five to ten.” May 2020
Wines For The Man In Your Life South Florida Reporter/MoreAboutWine.com “Cabernet sauvignon, petite verdot and malbec got into this very smooth, approachable wine from Napa Valley. Cherry and cassis with some cherry and spice.”Read more. June 2020
Best Samples for 2020 DallasWineChick.com “2017 Flora Springs Trilogy wine — Flora Spring’s flagship wine is made from estate vineyards and dates back to 1984 when it was one of Napa’s first proprietary red blends. The 2017 is a blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Petit Verdot, and 3% Malbec. It’s big, bold and satisfying with notes of black fruit, mocha, cassis, chocolate, spice and vanilla.”Read more.
—Melanie Ofenloch, June 2020
We are so pleased to introduce our first new Single Vineyard Cabernet in over two decades. John and Nat have been working on this project for years, tasting wines from all over the appellation to find just the right flavor and tannin profile. As they explored and experimented, they finally identified a wine from one of the highest elevation sites in the AVA that met their criteria, a beautifully expressive mountain Cabernet, distinct from our other Single Vineyards but no less prized. Why Dust & Glory?
Noted Napa sommelier Christina Stanley explains why she loves and recommends our flagship red wine, Trilogy.
Trilogy dates back to 1984 when our family decided to make the finest wine possible by selecting the highest quality wine lots culled from our estate vineyards in Napa Valley. Back then it was one of Napa Valley’s first proprietary red blends, and today this Bordeaux-style wine continues to be sourced from our own Komes-Garvey estate vineyards.
Soliloquy is named for Flora Springs’ proprietary Sauvignon Blanc clone, a singular clone entirely unique to us.
It nearly went extinct when the vines became diseased a couple decades ago, but through various heroic measures we were able to preserve the clone in our Crossroads Vineyard. Recently I decided to re-create Soliloquy, relying on my early memory of the wine to produce what I think could be the finest white wine we’ve ever made.
It was a long process, three years of countless blending trials, but today I’m proud to say that the 2019 Soliloquy has earned its place as Flora Springs’ flagship white wine, a fitting companion to our flagship red, Trilogy. I could not be more excited to introduce this singular white wine. Watch our newest video and learn more about its fascinating history.
If you miss visiting Napa Valley we invite you to sit back, pour yourself a glass of Flora Springs wine, and watch our new video of Sunset over Flora Springs Vineyard. Filmed spring 2020 in our Crossroads Vineyard in Oakville, home of our Soliloquy and Holy Smoke wines, this relaxing montage will transport you to the Napa Valley you love and miss, and give you a peek at a vintage in the making.
Located off the Oakville Cross Road, the 95-acre Crossroads Ranch is home to Flora Spring’s eight-acre Soliloquy Sauvignon Blanc Vineyard. This property is the site of a previously unknown Sauvignon Blanc clone – Soliloquy – which was discovered by the Komes and Garvey family and certified by UC Davis. The soils are a mix of clay and well-drained sandy loam with a reddish hue from the traces of oxidized iron deposited by the Napa River over time. In addition to Sauvignon Blanc, this site hosts Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.
Arrive at your scheduled time, and park in front of the tasting room and call the phone number posted out front. One of our staff members will bring your wine out to your car.
Wine Club Members, please contact Madeline Nossiter at 707-967-6724 or madeline@florasprings.com to coordinate shipments or pickup of your wines.
Our staff is onsite 10 am – 4 pm, Monday – Saturday and able to safely and conveniently fulfill your wine order. Please allow at least 24 hours for us to get your order ready for you. Thank you for supporting our small family-owned winery.
During this unusual time our entire Flora Springs family wants you to know that your well-being is our top priority. We are not able to offer wine tastings or other wine experiences right now, but are looking forward to when we can. We can’t wait to see you!
Flora Springs Tasting Room
677 S. Saint Helena Highway
Saint Helena, CA 94574
(707) 967-8032
