Join the 6th Annual Online Celebration of Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Franc is often considered a blending grape, but after farming a small block near John Komes’ home on the Rutherford side of the Komes Ranch for decades now, we know this grape can produce a luscious, smooth and rich wine that stands on its own.
For the past six years, Nat Komes has delighted in creating a limited-edition, one-of-a-kind Halloween Wine, a Cabernet Franc named All Hallows’ Eve.
How to participate:
Join us online December 4. We’ll be talking about Cab Franc all day.
Note: The following article was originally written by Catherine Bugue and published in the St. Helena Star on October 16, 2018 and can be found here.
Wine of the week: Flora Springs All Hallows’ Eve 2016 Cabernet Franc Napa Valley
It was dark. She was tense. He came at her with a knife.
And as she grabbed the knife away from him, she sighed irritably, and used the corkscrew end to open the wine bottle herself. She was in no mood for his theatrics.
It’s Halloween — it’s time for stories! Why not gather up friends and good wine on the 31st for a night’s respite from the weekly grind? Adding a wine like Flora Spring’s iconic All Hallows’ Eve Cabernet Franc brings good fun to the mix. The 2016 Cabernet Franc label features a spooked black cat and carved pumpkin; the wine has enough rich dark fruits and spice complexity to stand up to the spookiest of ghost stories.
See also special etched bottles like the Drink in Peace Merlot, complete with coffin wine box.
Order by 5 pm October 23 for delivery by Halloween. Please call (800) 913-1118 with questions on shipping times. Shop now.
Note: The following article on this year’s Halloween Wines, written by St. Helena Star tasting panel writer Catherine Bugue, can also be found here.
It’s almost Halloween and you know what that means. Nancy should definitely run in the halls; it may not be such an excellent day for an exorcism, and perhaps a boy’s best friends should not be his mother (or his dead mother anyway). But Halloween also means…they’re heeere. Flora Springs’ spook-inspired wines are ready for our Halloween parties and dinners.
Square Jack, the wineries’ affectionate name for the ghoulish, teeth-baring pumpkin which greets all tasters to this 2014 Cabernet Franc, is just one of three special bottlings. General Manager Nat Komes discovered Square Jack’s illustrator, John Manders, while reading his children stories at the St. Helena Library.
These Halloween wines always spice up the wine glass with big flavors of concentrated fruit and toasty oak. Whatever you do, don’t fall asleep…at least not until the bottle is finished.
Flora Springs has the distinction of being home to one of Napa Valley’s original “ghost wineries” – wineries built between 1860 and 1900 but abandoned in the early 20th century due to vine disease, the Great Depression, and Prohibition. Today, some ghost wineries still exist as ruins, but others, such as Flora Springs, have been renovated and restored to their former glory. Each year we bottle small amounts of estate-grown wines in honor of this illustrious history.
It’s that time of year again when we conjure up the ghost of spirits past with three new limited-production Halloween wines.
2013 All Hallows’ Eve Cabernet Franc with label art by award-winning children’s book illustrator John Manders
2014 Ghost Winery Malbec
A tribute to the winery’s illustrious history, this 100% Rutherford Malbec offers spine-tingling flavors of black cherry, currant and ripe plum and hints of mocha, tobacco and vanilla. Only 460 cases produced. Learn more about this wine.
2013 Harvest Witch Cabernet Sauvignon with label art by Wes Freed
New this year! We’re expanding the wine label artwork to an exclusive, limited-edition line of merchandise. Shop now.
Order deadlines for delivery by Halloween start October 21st. See our Holiday Shipping Guide to ensure these wickedly good wines will reach all your ghouls & goblins in time.
2013 All Hallow’s Eve Cabernet Franc with custom label art by award-winning children’s book illustrator John Manders
Flora Springs has the distinction of being home to one of Napa Valley’s original “ghost wineries” – wineries built between 1860 and 1900 but abandoned in the early 20th century due to vine disease, the Great Depression, and Prohibition. Today, some ghost wineries still exist as ruins, but others, such as Flora Springs, have been renovated and restored to their former glory. Each year we bottle small amounts of estate-grown wines in honor of this illustrious history.
The custom artwork on this year’s All Hallow’s Eve, which we affectionately refer to as “Square Jack,” was created by award-winning children’s book illustrator John Manders. Third generation family member and General Manager Nat Komes discovered John’s art while reading to his kids at the St. Helena library. Inspiration comes from many places!
This year, we’re expanding the All Hallow’s Eve Cabernet Franc label artwork to an exclusive, limited-edition line of merchandise. Now you can show your Halloween spirit with clothing, accessories—even a “Stacked Jack” skateboard deck! Shop now.
“Stacked Jack” Skateboard featuring John Manders’ custom art complementing our “Square Jack” 2013 All Hallow’s Eve Cabernet Franc
About John Manders I was educated at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and later took courses at the School of Visual Arts and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York where I studied children’s illustration, animation, and life drawing. My non-art interests include restoring my old house and trying to speak Italian.
My work is featured in over 60 children’s books and gazillions of children’s magazines. I am a founding member of the Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators and its first president. I organized the successful Bow Wow Meow art auction that benefited the Animal Rescue League and the PSI scholarship fund. In 2003 I curated Illustration: The Process, an educational exhibit of fourteen illustrators and their working methods. My latest curating effort, Once Upon A Page, an exhibition of Western Pennsylvanian children’s book illustrators, toured the United States in 2006.
My work has been exhibited at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh gallery, the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum, and I was honored in the 25-year retrospective of Cricket magazine covers that was held at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1999. That year I was also a participant at the Children’s Book Fair in Bologna, Italy. In May, 2006 I was named Outstanding Illustrator/Author by the Pennsylvania School Librarian’s Association. In May, 2013 I won a Reuben Award from the National Cartoonists Society for my work on Jack and the Giant Barbecue.
