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.
Food & Wine Magazine’s Best Winery to Visit – Napa Valley
We are honored to be named one of Food & Wine Magazine’s top wineries to visit in Napa Valley.
Out of over 400 wineries in Napa Valley, the magazine chose just 54 – including Flora Springs – as the “Best to Visit.”
Flora Springs Estate in Napa Valley
“If you’ve driven up Highway 29 into St. Helena you’ve surely seen the Las Vegas-worthy, wavy façade. Flora Spring’s multi-venue tasting room, which is a lovely, drop-in tasting room inside with some premium tastings. But it’s also worth bushwhacking a bit off the main drag to the actual winery, a once-abandoned 19th-century stone structure that is also home to the family proprietors. You’ll need an appointment to access its slate of tours and experiences.”
Plan your visit. Our Estate is located at the end of a quiet country lane surrounded by majestic oaks with panoramic vineyard views. Both a working winery and the family home of our proprietors. The Estate is Napa Valley’s most authentic and intimate place to visit.
Led by our winemaking team Paul Steinauer and Enrico Bertoz, explore the impact of different barrel coopers by tasting eight different barrel samples of the same wine. Experience the art of barrel making with a demonstration of firing and building a barrel. Small bites included. Limited to only 50 guests.
A big thank you to our 4,400+ Instagram friends for sharing your stories with us this past year. We are honored to be a part of the simple joys, and big moments of your lives.
Ever since we can remember the go-to food for serving with wine has been cheese. At our November 11 Great Tastes Club Pick Up Party we’ll celebrate this glorious pair with nibbles provided by Melted Napa. As its name implies, Melted Napa specializes in delicious, gooey cheese concoctions – the ideal accompaniment to Flora Springs unctuous reds and whites. We’ll also be joined by master cheese carver Sarah Nep (you may remember her from the Trilogy Release Party), a sculptress whose medium is cheese!
We’re also excited to announce that the party will feature live music by Sean Garvey (of the Komes-Garvey family) and his band Obsidian Son. In addition to working with his father Pat Garvey to manage Flora Springs’ vineyards, Sean is a talented musician and songwriter with two albums under his belt.
Finally, a portion of any purchases made at November’s Pick Up Party will be donated to the Waggin’ Trails Rescue Foundation, a non-profit organization that rescues at-risk dogs in California. We’ll also hold a raffle and silent auction, with all proceeds directed to the Foundation. Want to help out sooner? Visit smile.amazon.com and search “Waggin’ Trails,” to use your purchasing power for good.
As always, there is no charge for this event (for 2 members and up to 2 guests). Great Tastes members interested in attending please RSVP to (800) 913-1118 or info@florasprings.comby November 6th. If you are able to come and enjoy the day with us but are not regularly a pick up member, please notify us no later than October 27th to ensure your pick up will be available.
Learn more about the benefits of Wine Club membership.
Please join us at The Room from noon to 3 pm on Saturday, July 15th.
It’s a great excuse to enjoy a fun day and pick up your July wine club selection. Enjoy lunch catered by Kinder’s BBQ and live music by Al James.
We will also have special event-only pricing on select wines.
As always, there is no charge for this event (for 2 members and up to 2 guests). Great Tastes members interested in attending please RSVP to (800) 913-1118 or info@florasprings.comby July 9th. If you are able to come and enjoy the day with us but are not regularly a pick up member, please notify us no later than June 30th to ensure your pick up will be available.
Learn more about the benefits of Wine Club membership.
We started the harvest on Aug 16th picking Pinot Grigio in the Oak Knoll appellation, and we just finished on Tuesday, Oct 11th with Cabernet Sauvignon from Oakville appellation – so just about a 2 month harvest.
All in all, it was a terrific harvest! We experienced a very light amount of rain that did not affect the grapes at all. We only had a few days with any unusual heat spikes. We are however, very glad to be finished, in that there is a significant amount of rain in the forecast from Friday through Monday. There are many wineries that are forced to leave their fruit out through the rains, and again, a relief to not be one of them.”
—Winemaker Paul Steinauer
“Well, Mother Nature once again threw us a bit of a curve ball – We experienced 3 days around 100F, then it cooled off and actually had some showers on Sunday & Monday this week. The good news is that none of that has effected the grapes to any degree at all. We have harvested approximately 80% of our fruit thus far and the remaining grapes will be brought in by the end of next week. We have a handful of blocks on the Komes Ranch in the Rutherford Appellation – Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Verdot and Cabernet Franc. We also have a few blocks of Cabernet Sauvignon at our Crossroads Ranch in the Oakville Appellation as well. We are just waiting for these blocks to garner a more complex flavor profile before we pick them.”
—Winemaker Paul Steinauer
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.
