Marla Frederick

9.1

Delicious — a spiritual and pious journey through Amalfi’s lemon groves, the butter-producing farms of Parma, and Sicilian pasticcerie. This wine doesn’t disappoint as an accompaniment to “Wine Enthusiast’s” Italy issue, and as a distraction from the bad back that is wrecking any hope of skiing after the best snowstorm of the season. I will just have to content myself with the recent videos of Roman nuns building snowmen among ancient ruins. — 8 years ago

JKT

9.2

Gordons Chanin tasting 6/13/17. $43. #5. nose that's balanced and great mouth feel and structure and great long finish. Minty hints. Like 2013. — 9 years ago

JKT

9.1

Gordons Čhanin tasting 6/13/17. $43. #6. nose of red cherries and berries with spiciness. Good mouth feel and long finish. — 9 years ago

Chris England

8.9

This champagne feels over aged for an 07 but at £43 it's an OK drop if you like a richer bubble brew 🥂

🍇 65% PN, 30% Ch & 5% PM

🍷 Golden straw

👃 Burnt buttered brioche covered in caramelised citrus zests & apple w/ damp old sweaty cheese

👄 Persistent fine bubbled med+ bodied mousse of burnt honey caramelised apple & citrus w/ baked bread sweet & savoury tones

🎯 Long burnt honeyed caramel apple & citrus sticky linger — 9 years ago

Cynthia Langstaff

9.4

43 Cabernet Franc, 29 cabernet Sauvignon, 28% merlot. Nose mild, rounded fruit slightly sweet, perhaps some cherry in there but muted. Flavor well balanced, sweet cherry at start morphs quickly to tobacco and graphite with astringent tannin in long pleasant linger. — 9 years ago

with David

Martin Frowde

9.0

Pale straw colour with hints of green apple. A bouquet of tropical fruits with some herbaceousness and again that green apple edge. Juicy lemon, melon and grapefruit flavours with a light mineral edge and perhaps some dry herbs on the finish. Not overly acidic and although initially quite concentrated it opened up quite quickly. Worth noting that the vineyard's tasting notes advise drinking it within the first 2 years of release. Overall a good value, if atypical, Marlborough (which we found in Costco) though alas not at all to my wife's taste! — 11 years ago

with Georgina

Lunett/ Yosshi

Sake Specialist Hasegawa Sake Shop Tokyo

9.1

Name:" Isojiman"/ brewery: Isojiman shuzou/ region: Yaidzu city, Shizuoka/ category: junmai daiginjo/ cépage:Omachi polish rate:43%/ light clear note of mineral, hint of sweetness, tight texture with bitterness, and clear acid. A little too young, need more time. — 12 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.1

They should have called the Winery Floral Springs based on the nose. Beautiful; blackberry, black raspberries, dark cherries, strawberries, dry cranberries and plum floral fruits. Nice spice, vanilla, touch of clove & cinnamon, used leather, dark rich soil, crushed volcanic minerals, black fruit tea, black raspberry cola and dark fresh florals with violets. The tannins are 95% resolved. The body is lush & ripe. The length, tension & structure are nearing the end. Just a few years left of being worthwhile. However, the balance is stereo tuned. The fruit on the palate shows even more elegant & ripe floral fruits than the nose. Blackberry, black raspberries, dark cherries, strawberries, dry cranberries and plum floral fruits. Nice spice, vanilla, light clove & cinnamon, used leather, dark rich soil, crushed volcanic minerals, black fruit tea, black raspberry cola and dark fresh florals with violets for days. The acidity is like a waterfall. The beautiful, long, elegant finish is a little lean yet has a nice richness. Beautiful wine that just missed 9.2. Photos top to bottom and left to right. The Winery; which is separate from the other tasting room only on Hwy 29. The tasting room on Hwy 29 in St. Helena, Flora Spring caves and the front of their tasting room along Hwy 29. Producer notes and history...the stone winery on the grounds were built in 1885 by two immigrant brothers from Scotland, James and William Rennie. They were in construction, built the winery and planted 60 acres of grapes. The brothers had some bad fortune when phylloxera consumed the vines, and then a fire in 1900 destroyed their wine press and cooperage. In 1904, they sold the winery and fifteen years later Prohibition started. The winery was then closed until 1933. That year, Louis Martini, looked into their magic eight-ball and saw Prohibition collapsing and bought the Rennie property. They built a new stone house and also made a reserve wine from the hillside vineyards. However, the old winery remained empty until the Komes family bought the property, 325 acres, the old farm house, the newer stone house and 60 acres of vineyards. The son thought he’d persuade his dad to restore the old winery and proposed to call it Chateau Jerome. Although it had been designed by Hamden McIntyre an architect of several other classic 19th-century Napa wineries, by 1977, the place was a wreck. The tin roof of the building had so many holes in it. They called it the starlight roof. His father looked at it and stated, “I’ve worked all my life for my good name. I don’t want to squander it now.” John’s mother, Flora, however, sided with her son on the potential of the property. Carrie Komes suggested they could name the winery for her mother-in-law. Combined with the abundant springs on the land, they decided the name would be Flora Springs. It was a sure way to their mom’s heart and father’s wallet. Komes put his construction expertise to work on renovating the old winery, which still had scorch marks on the walls. So skeptical was his father about his son’s wine-making project, they divided the winery building. John rented half where he put his first fermenting tank, which he named R2D2. He invited a couple of friends from his wine-making class to help make wine at the new place. He also hired Mary Ann Graf, who in 1965 had been the first woman to graduate from the viticulture and enology department at UC Davis to help manage the project. She told John, “if you don’t hire a winemaker, I’ll quit.” He did and the 1979 Flora Springs chardonnay won a gold medal at the Los Angeles County Fair. In those days, it was fairs, not ratings. This was his first lesson in marketing as they sadly sold all the wine before they won the medal. Fairs were the big news instead of ratings as Parker had not yet risen to fame as he was the only one to call the grand 1982 Bordeaux vintage correctly. They submitted their 1981 Cabernet to eight fairs and won seven gold medals. From there, the winery just kept growing. They were the 67th winery in the county. Over the years, they had their ups and downs, but kept growing. One of their highlights was the creation this wine, Trilogy. It was one of the first Meritage blends in the valley. By 1984, they planted all the Bordeaux varietals; Malbec, Merlot, Cab Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. They wanted to create a blend “by taste”, not by formula for a nice smooth wine that goes deep into the palate. They worked with a little of this and little of that. The first Trilogy was Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cab Franc. It was dubbed as velvet in the mouth. A lot of what they do is taming the tannins. One man who bought Trilogy by the case said, “it’s the only red wine his wife would drink young.” From the leftovers, they began making single-varietal estate wines. Another highlight was the discovery of a unique clone of Sauvignon Blanc in vineyards his father bought in Oakville. UC Davis could identify nothing like it in their vast library of clones. They were a bit ahead of the times, but this clone showed Flora Springs how different in that time period what Sauvignon Blanc could be like as it took all the grassiness out of Sauvignon Blanc. — 8 years ago

Matt

9.2

Grapefruit, tart citrus, more minerality. Amazing amount of freshness and liveliness on the palate. 43% chard, 43% pinot noir, 15% pinot meunier — 11 years ago

Joe Weinberger

9.0

Different, but good. The longer this was exposed to air the less and less I enjoyed it. Drank over the course of 3 hours. First glass was great, last glass was meh. — 11 years ago

Sandra Cervantes

10

amazing. that's it. — 13 years ago

Gilles de Chambure

Master Sommelier & Educator

9.3

43 me 44 cs 13 cf blend more earthy than la mission leather mushroom fresh acidity — 13 years ago

Joe Lucca

9.3

Beautiful PnP. Nice color. Spicy fruit and some of the typical band-aid notes for something 43 years old. The tannins are perfectly ripe, there is just enough structure to hold up lively blue and purple fruits. What a surprise! Drops off quickly, so drink within 15 mins of pouring. — 8 years ago

with Frank, Kevin and 1 other

JKT

9.2

Gordons Čhanin tasting 6/13/17. $43. #1. Nose of white flowers and tropical fruits with mineral notes. Palate that's textured and with tension mouth feel and weight. Long finish with acids and minerals. Saline type minerals. Full melo unfiltered. Sulfur minimal and only after melo. Richest wine in lineup. Best nose of the group. Though not quite as full of tension. — 9 years ago

Chris England

9.4

❤️ Clinet & this 06 was £43 now £70 so superb value 😎 Drinking great but will age more 👍 it changes every year I try it 😍

🍇 85% Mer, 10% Cab S & 5% Cab F

🍷 Dark inky ruby

👃 Plump dark plum, black & blue berries through soft light smoked oak & minerals w/ cocoa & black tea tones

👄 Med+ body of ripe creamy smooth dark berries & plums w/ minerals, black tea & mocha

🎯 Med+ touch dry dark mineralised fruits w/ tea & mocha linger — 9 years ago

Frank Chen

9.1

Nice clean sweeter American whiskey ...third one that night though — 9 years ago

Claire Voorhees

9.1

Smell slight fruit and toast
43 merlot
48 cab sauv
9 cab franc
Tannic spine
More chocolate and fruity, more feminine — 10 years ago

Julieann Overholt

9.7

Great if ur looking for something sweet on the tongue at first w a slight bite as it finished — 11 years ago

Bruce Gingras

9.2

Macarenas, quite nice! Pretty good depth! — 11 years ago

Nicolas Bazinet

9.0

Quatrième opportunité de boire cette cuvée, même millésime. Délicieux, mais un peu fermé. — 13 years ago