Flora Springs Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2023
£45.75
The wine
A benchmark Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, brimming with vivid blackcurrant and black cherry married with a subtle spiciness. On the palate, firm yet finely textured tannins provide structure, and a refreshing line of acidity drives the brooding dark fruit onto a complex finish.
The blend takes Oak Knoll fruit from lower down the valley, which lends the plush fruit character, and Rutherford fruit from higher up in the Mayacamas, which supplies the structural and mineral backbone. Hand-harvested, destemmed and given three days of pre-fermentation maceration to draw colour and tannin, fermented in stainless steel, then eighteen months of ageing with ninety per cent of the blend in French oak, 35% of it new, and the remaining tenth held in tank. Farmed organically with a particular focus on soil health and biodiversity.
The producer
Flora Springs
View all Flora Springs winesFlora Springs takes its name from Flora Komes and from the natural springs that rise behind the old stone winery at the foot of the Mayacamas in Napa Valley. Jerry and Flora Komes bought the derelict property in 1977, and the family has been there ever since.
The winery building itself is considerably older. It was built in 1885 by two Scottish brothers, then abandoned during Prohibition, and the Komes family restored it after buying the site. It is one of the oldest working winery buildings in the valley.
The estate now farms vineyards across Napa, from Oak Knoll lower down the valley to Rutherford and up into the Mayacamas foothills, and the range is built on that spread of sites: warmer, lower ground supplies flesh and fruit, the higher, cooler blocks supply structure and acidity. The vineyards are farmed organically with a particular focus on soil health and biodiversity.
Two wines define the house. Trilogy, a Bordeaux blend from the Komes Ranch vineyard in Rutherford, and Soliloquy, made from a Sauvignon Blanc clone found on the estate in 1989 and later certified by UC Davis as unique to that one vineyard.
