Ive actually gone to this producer when Im in a restaurant in an obscure area and find them on the list since Ive been satisfied with the outcome every time. Most recently, I was in restaurant Blu in Northern Michigan and wanted to have Pinot Noir and the 12 Sonoma County was on the list for $70 [reasonable in this restaurant]. It was very delightful and pleasing to others at our table as well.
Hi Steve, hope you are well! I wish I had a bottle of that 2011 Pinot Meunier…! Please do check out the more recent vintages. A good friend Chantal (who I have worked with since 2008) is heading up the winemaking for the Sonoma Coast tier wines. One of the best values in the style on the coast and still my restaurant go to.
They will be here for Wine and Chile Fiesta on the 24th and 25th tastings. They were here last year, the Chardonnay was good but the Pinot was only OK and quite expensive. ~$80US per bottle. I would have only given it an 83-85 point (B-/B rating on my system) and would consider it a terrible value. The Chardonnay was $60 and also not a good value. I know they are owned by someone else, probably a big conglomerate but the prices for this juice are ridiculous.
You must be referring to their estate wines CMR and SVR. The Sonoma Coast appellation wines would be about 1/2 those prices and I do think represent a relatively good value. Chantal is doing a remarkable job with these two wines! I am a bit bias though… ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Questionable value as I can get as good for less price from Sonoma.
Joan and Walt Flowers were commercial nursery owners back in Pennsylvania (I believe) when they took a huge leap of faith, purchased the Camp Meeting Ridge property and developed it into a wine estate. Their first vintage - 1993 as I recall - was made by Steve Kistler, but they soon brought Greg LaFollette on board, and it was he who crafted the wines of the mid 90s that created such buzz. They were then, and remain the most exciting young Chardonnay and Pinot Noir I have ever tasted. In blind tastings, they smoked everything in their path.
Joan and Walt are wonderful folks, always more than generous with the wines and their hospitality. There was, I think, some disappointment - mostly due to the feeling that the wines failed to live up to their promise as they aged in bottle. Eventually, Greg left to work on other projects and the winery lost a bit of continuity due to winemaker changes.
Walt and Joan had some private issues that gave them reason to limit their involvement in the day to day operation of the estate, hence the arrangement with the Huneeus family. Now, with Sea View in full production and a second line of wines produced from purchased fruit, the operation bears little resemblance to the winery some of us grew quite fond of back in the 90s.
No doubt that anybody who got to know Joan and Walt in those years wishes them nothing but the best.
Alan: Good review of the history here, and good to see you posting again.
I was “all in” on Flowers back in the 90s, probably due to excessive hype by a few posters on the Spectator board. The wines were good, but not as good as I’d hoped; mine are all consumed. I’ve met some of the newer Flowers people at wine events and the wines seem to be on the upswing again. As you point out, there has been a lack of continuity with the winemaking.
Thanks Allan.
Joan and Walt are great people/friends and I was honored when they asked me to steward their property/brand during the transition to the Huneeus Family. Myself, Joan, and Walt are no longer involved with Flowers.
The first vintage was 1994 and still my favorite vintage to date. Steve Kistler made the '94-'96 vintages with LaFollette starting with the '97 vintage. Interesting enough, Joan and Walt wanted to differentiate the wines from the Kistler style so asked Steve to ferment their Pinot 100% whole cluster in '94. '95 was 75% WC and '96 50% WC.
In terms of Winemaker continuity, its an extreme place out there on the coast 1.5 hours from civilization. Hard to raise a family, get kids to school, have a social life, etc. This is a large reason why most wineries who own vineyards in the region do not make their wines out there. Not to mention the challenging economics of doing so.
The potential of the two estate vineyards is insane. I hope to see that potential come to fruition in my lifetime so I can stock up on the goods!
When Ross Cobb and Hugh Chapelle worked there, one of them said to me, All the single women here are in high school or divorced with children…or both!
I took the 2009 Flowers CMR to a dinner party the other day…it was the hit of the evening.
Great thread. My favorite Flowers was the plain old 96 CMR…what a damn fine bottle that was.
I stopped “getting” what they were doing there with the increasing number of blocks, the moon selection, etc. I didn’t (and still don’t) see the need for such a wide number of bottlings. I think that is just folly.
Sad to learn that Walt and Joan are no longer involved at all. I thought they had some residual interest or involvement.
Have always wanted to grab a bottle of their PN at local bottle shop but still yet to pull the trigger. This thread makes me want to do that soon though just to see what the wines are all about. Thanks for the “history” on the winery!
Nick, if nothing else grab a bottle of the “Perennial”, it’s a weird blend of Pinot, Pinot Muenier, and Chardonnay, it’s a crowd pleaser.
Perennial has a big bit of Syrah in it as well as Dolcetto. I don’t think it is made anymore. I’m farming one of the vineyards that used to supply Syrah.
Flowers now has a facility in Graton so this should make it easier on the winemakers’ lives.
Had a couple glasses of the 2014 Flowers Sonoma Coast pinot bottling the other day. Haven’t had any of their wines in a long long time, but I quite liked this example. I don’t drink much pinot, and am not knowledgeable about the grape, but genuinely enjoyed it.
I also thought the 96s were terrific. I was on the list for the first handful of years and thought the 96 CMR was great and probably their best wine I’ve had but for the 96 CMR Moon Select. I liked the 95s as well. All seemed to age nicely too. Was hoping that the 96 represented where the wines were going but never seemed to capture it in future years (97s were quite enjoyable too). I still have a bottle of each of the 96s, one 94 and some 97s and kind of forgot about them in the celler. I’m going to have to grab one and see if they are still drinking!
They were board darlings back in the WCWN days. I loaded up on the 95-97 vintages but became increasingly disappointed with how they aged. Traded them with a retailer years ago for a couple of cases of burgs and rhones so it all worked out in the end.
Had the 1999 CMR a few months back at an offline and it was one of the highlights of the night, very much my style, earthy, floral and restrained, yet not lacking for fruit, really in a great place.
From my retail perspective Flowers has an interesting product. As mentioned they are not Parkerized palate pounders, but still appeal to the Rombauer/Sonoma Cutrer/Mer Soleil/Belle Glos crowd as well as those who avoid these. It appears to be a “fashionable” wine with the former and a familiar, reliable choice with the latter. I think the wines are solid and overpriced, but then i’m in AZ where generally speaking, wine is overpriced.
I’ve posted on flowers a couple times, but yes I only buy them at sale prices. Last bottle had some during their last marathon sale a picked up a couple mags so with the free shipping that was a good deal.