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

Scott C

Founder / Co-director SR Wine imports

10

By far the best Austrian Riesling I have ever tasted . Salomon Undhof fantastic producer , this wine is incredible . Granit , honey , wet stone , still so fresh . Perfect — 11 years ago

Adam Jesberger

9.8

Whoa, true oxidative goodness here. Brioche, toast, slight lanolin and some awesome oxidized green apple presentation. Lemon curd and lime rind, dust and library notes. Great bottle! — 11 years ago

Scott T

VP/Senior Wine Specialist Christie's

9.6

Rock'n bottle. Believed original release, not library release. I luv '64s! — 13 years ago

Chris England

9.3

Love this aged library release @ £32 that's fab value 👍

🍷 Garnet ruby w/ brick edge

👃 Gorgeous stewed spiced dark berries & plums through old leather, warm smokey oak, mushroom, red cherry potpourri, wet earth, liquorice, dates, prune & rich cocoa - it's sniffing oo la la 😍

👄 Med+ body of creamy silky dark fruits galore w/ an earthy liquorice & mocha gateaux backbone

🎯 Med+ deep earthy dark fruit mocha chewy gateaux finale

Recommended for sure 👍 — 8 years ago

Boxer Briefs

10

First sparkling wine Argyle ever made. On Yeast for 25 years, disgorged 5 years ago for the 25th anniversary. Like butterscotch and lemon had a baby. Incredibly fresh and alive. It's all about context... — 9 years ago

Landshark 626

9.1

A fantastic summer wine. Enjoyed at the Huntington Library summer concert. — 10 years ago

Dan Mellor

9.0

Seriously it is not a library wine but for an $8 blend not sure there's is a ton better — 10 years ago

Trefethen Family Vineyards

9.9

Still beautiful after all these years. — 10 years ago

Raechel Sims

9.1

Not a terrible bottle for a Tuesday night. Coincidentally, was discussing the 1998 vintage with the Cristom team today. Steve's recollection: cool July, nice Indian summer mid-September, provided a lot of good acidity. Obviously that had tapered off somewhat in this bottle, but in its wake was a bit of anise, tea, dusty fig - pretty much all the lovely things you want to say about a library Eyrie and sound like an asshat no matter what. Lovely pour. — 11 years ago

Ben Palos

9.1

Lots of dried red fruit and herbs. Beautiful showing of how #NapaValley #CabernetSauvignon can age well. — 12 years ago

Jason Hemming

9.1

Definitely some bottle variability in these library releases but this '95 was singing. Dark fruit remain front and center with moderate oak and well integrated tannins. Some dusty rustic notes make add some appreciated complexity. — 12 years ago

Tom Inners

9.4

Yum. Bought this bottle on 'Evacu-cation' during our escape from Calistoga wildfires to sunny Ojai. One of a few library wines scored from the Ojai Vineyard tasting room. Great example of California Chardonnay at its best. Shows restraint and reserve with invigorating acidity. Tasting great at this age. — 9 years ago

Yianni Stone

9.2

Library Recorking 3L — 9 years ago

Matt Trader

9.5

2000 is just beautiful right now! The color is mesmerizing - sunburnt orange rim, brick red, with a dark crimson core. When you open this one, you get immediate cellar funk and compost flying out of the bottle, but after about 40 minutes, the funk flies, and what you're left with a true lightning bolt..(coup de foudre!) Leather couches in a frequented library, espresso, stewed red apple skins, and bell pepper, tobacco, and dried carnations. Tannins are still firmly present, and still sexy in feel (yes, velvet love in liquid form), black plums, graphite, bell pepper, clove spice, and a soft and lush finish. I think this wine could see another 15 years at least with the youth it began to show around 2.5 hrs after being opened. If you can find any 2000 around, grab 3.. lay 2 down, drink one now. Happy Valentine's Day! — 9 years ago

Richard Baum

9.4

Our pick of the Wine Library 2015 Charity Tasting — 11 years ago

with Josh

Lily Mirabelle Freedman

9.3

Cedar lined old library disturbed for the first time in 2 decades — 11 years ago

Nicole Dodson

9.4

Stunning, pre-bret Cain! — 12 years ago

Mike Kane

9.7

From the Longshadows library. Excellent. — 12 years ago

Brian Tuite

8.9

Love Fred's library releases! Friday first pour. — 13 years ago