Checking in With Richard

March 31, 2023

Richard Tiedemann

Richard Tiedemann is a fifth-generation Napa Valley native whose family has been growing grapes here since the late 1880s.

Richard spent the better part of the 1990s as a crab and salmon fisherman in Alaska, returning to Napa Valley in 2000 to work in the Flora Springs tasting room. His love and knowledge of wine, his ability to relate to people and his passion for sharing the story of the Komes-Garvey family soon earned him promotions and a series of sales roles, with responsibility at various times for California, the northeast, the Midwest and western regions. Now, as Director of Winery Relations, Richard travels extensively throughout the U.S. as an ambassador for Flora Springs, hosting lively, interactive wine dinners and building lasting relationships with customers and fans.

“Last April I had the opportunity to do something I’d dreamed about for a long time: host a Flora Springs cruise for Wine Club Members in the Mediterranean. I was actually a stand-in for John and Carrie Komes, who at the last minute weren’t able to make the trip. Knowing that a big reason members sign up for a Flora Springs cruise is to spend time with the Komes, I brought my “A” game, determined to make the voyage just as entertaining and enlightening.

On one of our first days, I staged a blind tasting of Bordeaux varietals – Malbec,Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon, etc. – to see if folks were able to identify the wines. Only three people got every wine right, but we all had a blast.

Our days were spent exploring awe-inspiring sites in Spain, the Canary Islands and Morocco. In the evenings we met at the Voyager Lounge where Flora Springs Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot flowed freely. And each night I hosted a small group of Wine Club Members for dinner at one of the ship’s amazing four-star (in my opinion) restaurants.

I loved spending time with these members, many of whom have long relationships with the Komes family and Flora Springs. But the best part might have been sharing photos and tales of my journey with John and Carrie when I got back. I’d sent them a post card from each port of call, which I know they appreciated. But not half as much as I appreciate them for giving me the opportunity to take the cruise of a lifetime.”

Napa Valley Wine Tasting

We look forward to welcoming you in Napa Valley for wine tasting while enjoying views of flourishing vineyards and the western hillsides. Named “Best Hidden Gem Winery” in Napa Valley Life Magazine’s 2020 Best of Napa Valley Awards Readers Choice & 2022 Best of Napa Valley Awards Readers Choice, we are open seven days a week by appointment. Visit Flora Springs Tasting Room.

Luxury Wine Travel

As they say, like father like son, and Nat Komes loves to explore the world just as much as his dad, John. This October, sail away with Nat and Anne Komes and cruise the Mediterranean from Athens to Jerusalem aboard the Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ elegantly refreshed Seven Seas Voyager. Learn more.

Flora Springs 45th Anniversary Celebration

March 3, 2023

2023 represents Flora Springs’ 45th anniversary in Napa Valley wine, and we’re ready to celebrate!

Join our family and team for wine, food, fun and plenty of memories to mark the occasion, and take in the sights of our newly refurbished tasting room in St. Helena on Saturday, September 23. Stay tuned for more details.

RSVP to (800) 913-1118 or wineclub@florasprings.com by September 1.

Wine Club Member Appreciation Holiday Party

March 3, 2023

Exclusively for Wine Club Members

We’re decking the halls and spreading the cheer this season with a special Member Appreciation Holiday Party! Flora Springs club members know how much we love the holidays, the most magical time of the year.

Join us on Saturday, December 9 at our Tasting Room in St. Helena. Stay tuned for details.

RSVP to (800) 913-1118 or wineclub@florasprings.com by November 15.

Please contact Wine Club Manager Madeline Nossiter at (800) 913-1118 or wineclub@florasprings.com with any questions.

Learn more about the many benefits of Wine Club membership.

Wine Club Member Appreciation Spring Party — SOLD OUT!

March 3, 2023

This event is sold out, please contact us at wineclub@florasprings.com to be added to the wait list.

Exclusively for Wine Club Members

Join us on Sunday, May 21 from 1 – 4 pm for our Wine Club Member Appreciation Spring Party at our Tasting Room in St. Helena.

Enjoy live music by Campbell’s Jazz Soup Dixieland Quartet, catering by Tarla Mediterranean Kitchen, and wines including our flagship red Trilogy and flagship white Soliloquy plus rare wines from our library.

Experience our new outdoor space; John Komes, whose career began in construction, has reimagined the back patio with new landscaping, a hand-laid mosaic that pays tribute to our matriarch, Flora Komes, and other unique features. We can’t wait to show you!

Complimentary for one Wine Club Member + one guest, up to two additional tickets can be purchased at $50/each. Only 100 spots available.

Please contact Wine Club Manager Madeline Nossiter at (800) 913-1118 or wineclub@florasprings.com with any questions.

Learn more about the many benefits of Wine Club membership.

Trilogy Library Tasting Flight at the Tasting Room

January 10, 2023

Because the 2020 wildfires precluded us from making our flagship wine in 2020, we are sharing exceptional library vintages of Trilogy through February — the month we traditionally release this wine.

Experience the difference vintage makes and enjoy a taste of history.

Make a reservation for our Trilogy Library Tasting Flight — featuring a special selection of library wines, a vertical of Trilogy from 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019 — complimentary for Wine Club Members.

Flora Springs Trilogy, Our Flagship Wine

Our 2019 Trilogy marks the 35th vintage of our flagship red wine, a bottling that dates back to 1984 when our family decided to make the finest wine possible by selecting fruit from the highest quality blocks from our estate vineyards in Napa Valley. Back then it was one of Napa Valley’s first proprietary red wines, and we named it for the three Bordeaux varietals which made up the blend. Ever since, Trilogy has consistently earned more than 90 points from wine critics and is admired by fans both for its approachability and ability to age.

Wine Tasting in St. Helena

We welcome you to Napa Valley for wine tasting while enjoying views of flourishing vineyards and the western hillsides. Wine tastings are currently by reservation only. Space fills quickly, make your reservations today.

Can’t make it to Napa Valley this February?

Take advantage of special pricing on our Trilogy Library 4-Pack and celebrate Trilogy at home. Shop now before library pricing goes into effect.

Flora Springs Named “Best Hidden Gem Winery” by Napa Valley Life Magazine

February 24, 2022

Note: The article excerpted below was originally published in Napa Valley Life Magazine and can be found here.

Flora Springs Tasting Room - Rooftop Lounge

“Each year, Napa Valley Life pauses to recognize and celebrate the area’s bounties by asking our readers to weigh in on their favorite places to eat, drink, shop, and play, and we have the privilege to present them in our annual Best of Napa Valley-Readers Choice Awards. Well, folks, the results are in! After calculating thousands of votes and write-in entries, we are pleased to share and congratulate this year’s winners in each polling category.

We hope you enjoy reading the results and take the time to congratulate the ones you know and make a point to discover the ones you don’t.”

Flora Springs Named “Best Hidden Gem Winery” in Napa Valley Life Magazine’s 2022 Best of Napa Valley Awards Readers Choice

“Founded in 1978 by John and Julie Komes and named after their free-spirited mother, Flora, Flora Springs history dates back to the late 1800s when grapes were first planted on the estate. Lauded as one of Napa Valley’s local hidden gems, the St. Helena winery and tasting room offer visitors a relaxing respite to learn some of Napa’s unique history and experience some of the region’s top-rated Cabernet, Chardonnay, single varietal, and Bordeaux blends, including their award-winning Trilogy.”

Flora Springs Tasting Room - Vineayrd CourtyardVisit Our Tasting Room in St. Helena

We welcome you to Napa Valley for wine tasting while enjoying views of flourishing vineyards and the western hillsides. Wine tastings are currently by reservation only. Space fills quickly, make your reservations today.

A Wine Like No Other

December 16, 2021

The year 2018 marked our 40th harvest at Flora Springs, a milestone we commemorate with this special bottling of single vineyard Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2018 Celebrating Our 40th Harvest Cabernet Sauvignon.

Flora Komes, Harvest 1978, Napa Valley
Flora Komes Working the First Flora Springs Harvest in 1978

 

“Flora Dispensing Her Favours on the Earth”

“Flora Dispensing Her Favours on the Earth” originally appeared in an 1807 book on botany by Robert John Thornton. The print now resides in the digital collection of the New York Public Library.

The label is a reproduction of a print titled “Flora Dispensing Her Favours on the Earth,” created by the artist Richard Cosway in 1807. Nat Komes came across the illustration in a book given to his grandmother, Flora Komes, many years ago. “I immediately looked up the origin of this image, which captures my grandmother’s spirit so completely,” says Nat. Moved by this timeless image and Flora’s oft heard saying, “Love the land and it will love you back,” Nat decided to use this illustration on the wine that celebrates his family’s 40 years of farming the land.

“Flora Dispensing Her Favours on the Earth,”Art
The “Flora Dispensing Her Favours on the Earth” Print Nat Found in His Grandmother Flora’s Book
The Original “Flora Dispensing Her Favours on the Earth" - Now in the Digital Collection of the New York Public Library
The Original “Flora Dispensing Her Favours on the Earth” – Now in the Digital Collection of the New York Public Library

 

2018 Celebrating Our 40th Harvest Cabernet Sauvignon

The Wine

An excellent vintage in 2018 yielded a big, concentrated wine with forward flavors of black cherry, blueberry, and crème de cassis that coat the mouth in luscious blue/black fruit. Hints of coffee, dense dark chocolate and sandalwood emerge in this layered and complex Cabernet, and though muscular and powerful, the wine’s silky-smooth tannins keep it approachable even in its youth. Still, this wine will reward aging for the next 20 years and should be decanted if opened within the next five. This highly collectible wine is like no other, the last Single Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon to be sourced from Rennie Vineyard on our former St. Helena wine estate.

2018 elebrating Our 40th Harvest Cabernet Sauvignon

The 2018 Napa Valley Harvest

2018 brought a long, steady and near-ideal growing season to Napa Valley. Bud break began in late February/early March followed by an extended flowering period in May/June that yielded uniform grape clusters. The summer continued with typical warm temperatures but no significant heat spikes. Harvest was later than in recent years, accompanied by mild weather through September and October that allowed grapes to be picked at optimum ripeness and flavor. Napa winemakers agreed that 2018 was one of the least eventful and finest growing seasons they’d witnessed, yielding wines of intensity, concentration and balance.

Learn more about this one of a kind wine.

Flora Springs Tasting Room Featured in Napa Valley Register

September 25, 2021

Note: The article excerpted below was originally published in the Napa Valley Register and can be found here.

“…Ten miles northwest is the also-eccentric tasting room for Flora Springs, which emulates the cave style of Jarvis with the asymmetry and playful nature of Quixote. Right alongside Highway 29 at the gateway to St. Helena, Flora Springs certainly grabs the attention of those driving by. A striped mound-shape, the tasting room differs significantly from the surrounding bistros and minimalist exteriors.

“We wanted the building to feel like the entrance to a wine cave built into a mountainside, so we used bent plywood to give the structure its curvature and painted the outside to represent the natural geologic striations of the earth,” said founder John Komes. “The name Flora Springs combines the name of Flora Komes, my mother and our matriarch, with the natural springs that run in the western hillsides, so we wanted to capture the natural energy of the springs as well.”

Komes has a background in construction, so he wasn’t too hung up with the building process and was sure to incorporate a laid-back meeting space outside on the backside of the facility.

“Beautiful wine caves have and always will be a draw for guests to the Napa Valley, so it’s nice to be able to offer a sense of that with our tasting room, but our outdoor patio and rooftop deck have a different sensibility,” said Komes….” Read more.

Napa Valley Wine Tasting in St. Helena

We invite you to our Napa Valley Tasting Room for wine tasting while enjoying views of flourishing vineyards and the western hillsides. Plan your Napa Valley getaway and experience the Flora Springs Tasting Room, named “Best Hidden Gem Winery” in Napa Valley Life Magazine annual 2020 Best of Napa Valley Readers Choice Awards.

Wine Tasting in St Helena

A Tasting Room for the Senses

January 28, 2021

by John Komes

It was the early 1990s and Flora Springs had been in business for just over ten years when I decided we needed to have a tasting room on Highway 29.

There wasn’t quite as much tourism in Napa Valley as there is now, and I wanted a place right on the highway where people could easily visit us. I bought a building – an old HVAC shop – just south of the old Dean & DeLuca gourmet grocery (now Gary’s Wine & Marketplace) in St. Helena. I cleaned it up, installed a circular bar, hired an artist to paint some wall murals, and opened up for tastings.

But business was slow. I kept hearing folks say they hadn’t “noticed” the tasting room, even people who stopped at Dean & DeLuca. I decided to do something about it. My wife, Carrie, and I had recently visited Barcelona and seen many of the buildings designed by renowned architect, Antoni Gaudí. I loved the flow and imagination of his structures, the fanciful nature of his designs.

You can guess what happened next.

Wine Tasting in St Helena
Wine Tasting Napa

When I returned to St. Helena I consulted with a local architect, and together we designed a new Tasting Room that echoes, in Gaudí-like fashion, the look and feel of a wine cave set into a mountainside. We used bent plywood to give the structure its curvature and painted the outside to represent geologic striations in the earth.

Inside we created separate tasting areas made to feel like private rooms in a wine cave, and installed a curved tasting bar with a modern bistro vibe. The rooftop, which has magnificent views of mountains and vineyards to the west, feels like a comfortable living room, a place where people can relax and enjoy a glass of wine.

Wine Tasting in Saint Helena

Wine Tasting in Napa

Wine Tasting in Saint Helena

Thanks to my son Nat, our Tasting Room has gotten some upgrades recently, and I’m excited about the improvements. I always wanted it to be a place where people could indulge their sense of sight as well as taste and smell. Most of all, I want the Tasting Room to inspire curiosity and delight, to be the place where people come to learn more about the legacy of Flora Springs.

Now we are thrilled to be reopening for outdoor wine tasting, by appointment. Plan your Napa Valley wine tasting adventure today.

 

Flora Springs Tasting Room
677 S. Saint Helena Highway
Saint Helena, CA 94574
(707) 967-8032

John & Nat Komes Featured in Napa Valley Register

October 2, 2020

Note: The article excerpted below was originally published in the Napa Valley Register and can be found here.

John & Nat Komes

‘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.

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