Rebecca Salazar

8.9

Blackberry, honey notes, fruit finish — 5 years ago

Sean Lyons

9.5

An amazing value. Spiced fruit, clove, honey, vanilla, amazing oak notes - just an outstanding bourbon. It’s light enough that it would make an outstanding summer whisky, but drinking it neat with no water is serving me just right on this cold November night. — 6 years ago

Lauren Atkins

9.0

Wow. Doesn’t taste like a Pinot!! Great spicy notes, easy to drink but complex — 7 years ago

Rob Brobst III

9.3

Nice wine. It came to the party wearing a backpack, glasses and a hat with a mosquito net. — 7 years ago

with Jade and Paul

Regina Martin

9.3

Good! O's special — 8 years ago

David L

9.3

13' Vineyard 7 & 8 Chardonnay. Big boy Chardonnay. Pop & pour. Love drinking this wine. — 8 years ago

Sabrina I

9.2

Great spicy Syrah. Palo Alto 2017 — 8 years ago

Rachel Sours

9.0

2017. Very smooth from the first glass to the last. — 5 years ago

Rich Bluth

9.1

hitting a perfect stride after being open 30+ min. — 6 years ago

Perrine M Ryan

10

An absolute dream. It smells like it wants to go to a campfire. — 6 years ago

Ellen Clifford

9.3

Revisiting. It actually did well with a smidge of age. Less saline more really ripe kumquat. I want this wine to be my best friend. Like we are both gonna change and mature but will always provide quality us-time to each other. Dang I’m worried Eight Cellars isn’t making wine anymore? Because I was able to buy 2014 Sauvignon Blanc in 2018... — 7 years ago

Neal Ferry

9.0

Breath....Breath...,open up please — 8 years ago

Barb Anderson

8.9

I needed a monster to pair with the ultimate smoky BBQ. This Cab fit the bill. — 8 years ago

Lisa Tarulli

9.3

2014 has a new label! — 8 years ago

Rappster 14

8.9

#brightcellars — 9 years ago

Keith Fisher

9.3

Certainly different than The Pontiff. This was lighter and more classically Rosé whereas in a blinder glass I’m not sure I would identify The Pontiff as a Rosé at all. For my taste, this was enjoyable, but not mind-blowing (which is usually the case for me with wines from SQN). — 5 years ago

Hiroyuki Hikichi

9.0

Fruity and slightly hoppy sake with sashimi. — 6 years ago

Andy

9.5

good taste and smooth — 7 years ago

Karyn Fricke

9.1

Cherry berry very nice. A little on the hot side but good. — 7 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. — 7 years ago