6 Flowers Pinots - 1995-2000 Blindtasted

Introductory notes by tasting organizer Ross B.
The Flowers Vineyard and Winery was founded by Walt and Joan Flowers, who, quite appropriately, made their fortune in the nursery business in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. In the mid-1990s, they decided to make the leap to wine, and after extensive exploration for suitable locations in California, ended up buying 321 acres on the Sonoma Coast, in a microclimate which was deemed ideal to grow their two loves, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

The Flowers began planting vineyards in 1991, initially beginning with two main estate vineyards, Camp Meeting Ridge and Flowers Ranch, which are between 1150 and 1400 feet above sea level. In 1992, they purchased an additional 327 acres nearby, but at slightly higher elevations, and these form the basis of Sea View Ridge and Frances Thompson vineyards. All the vineyards are on the beautiful ridgetops within their properties, overlooking not only the Pacific Ocean, but above the fog which frequently rolls in from the ocean, covering the valleys during the summer.

They initially sold grapes to Kistler (who made a great Camp Meeting Ridge Chardonnay during the mid-1990s), and still sell portions of their crop to other wineries. In 1995, they began producing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay under their own label, to immediate acclaim. In 1997, they finished a gravity flow-based winery, and began producing their wines there. Until quite recently, their production was small, and that, combined with the rave reviews, made their wines very difficult to obtain outside of their mailing list. Even today, they are still only one of three bonded wineries in the north part of the Sonoma Coast appellation.

Tonight, we will try six Pinots from the beginning years of Flowers, beginning with their legendary 1995 Camp Meeting Ridge Pinot.

This was a recent Ross Bott blindtasting of a few older Pinot vintages each of Flowers' flagship vineyard, Camp Meeting Ridge, and their Sonoma Coast vineyard. I was excited to do this tasting retrospective because I was a big fan of Flowers in early years, and remain a major fan of their former winemaker Greg LaFollette (now with his own Tandem label, as well as newly named winemaker for DeLoach).

The younger wines fared better than the older ones in our rankings. Remarkably, the group rankings put the three Sonoma Coast wines first, in reverse chronological order, followed by the three Camp Meeting Ridge wines also in order of youngest to oldest. One oddity of the tasting was how much we found ourselves changing our rankings of the wines as some of them changed dramatically in the glass. There's always a little of that, but many of us commented we were doing it more than usual.

In general, the consensus was that these were very decent Pinots, but, based on the group we tasted, likely to have a limited life span. Our sense was that those of us with Flowers Pinots from the '95 vintage should plan to drink them up soon. (See my TNs below.)

• 2000 Flowers Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast 90 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  Group's #1 (my #2) - deep red garnet color; creamy, oaky fresh-baked strawberry pie nose; tightly coiled palate with Burgundian flavors and hints of soy sauce, along with tart red fruit; medium finish that's shorter than the finish on the 1998 Sonoma Coast 90+ pts.

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• 1999 Flowers Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast 90 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  Group's #2 (my #3) - fish sauce, umami nose; tasty tart red fruit, cherry and raspberry palate, with hints of lime; medium tart finish

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• 1998 Flowers Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast 91 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  Group's #3 (my #1) - light garnet color; lovely, penetrating ripe strawberry and raspberry nose that changed, over 40 minutes or so, to a faint grilled pork nose; good plush fruit entry to tart red fruit palate, balanced with good grip; medium finish 91+ pts.

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• 1999 Flowers Pinot Noir Camp Meeting Ridge 87 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  Group's #4 (my #6) - high pitched raspberry and cream nose, with VA, that changes over 45 minutes in the glass to a Zin nose; big, ripe fruit on a palate that tastes young and tight, with impressions of raspberries and cream; medium finish (Least varietally true of the six. Had we not known these were all Flowers Pinots, I might have thought it was a Zin or an oaky Tempranillo. I wouldn't have picked it for Pinot.)

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• 1997 Flowers Pinot Noir Camp Meeting Ridge 88 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  Group's #5 (my #4) - tight, faintly savory alcohol and cherry nose; tight tart cherry palate, with oak at the edges; tart medium finish 88+ pts.

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• 1995 Flowers Pinot Noir Camp Meeting Ridge 88 Points

  USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast

  Group's #6 (my #5) - odd earthy, tomato nose; tasty, tart red fruit palate, balanced, with some sweetness and oak on short-medium finish

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