Rogers & Company presents Flowers Vineyard & Winery’s Sonoma Coast Chardonnay.
Flowers Vineyard & Winery’s 2015 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay ($69.95, LCBO #215210) is available in limited quantities at the LCBO Vintages.
“If you want to find out what Sonoma Coast chardonnay is really all about or more importantly what it can be when made in the right way (because there truly is a wrong way) then begin right here. Dave Keatley makes use of some of the finest Sonoma fruit and carefully considers how to coax what combination of it and tension are needed to exercise the finest balance. Let’s be clear that it is not just the vintage that makes this Flowers 2015 so special because the track record without fail is impeccable. No, it is the learning curve, the acumen developed and still developing, noted by how exquisite the phenolics, flavours, texture, acidity and tannin are, without exception. This chardonnay is what we all need.”
– 95 points, Michael Godel, WineAlign, June 2017
As nursery owners in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Walt and Joan Flowers had long dreamed of combining their love of wine with their passion for agriculture. In 1989, after many information-gathering trips to Napa and Sonoma, Walt and Joan purchased 321 acres high above the Pacific Ocean on the northern Sonoma Coast. With that determined stick-to-it quality common among top winemakers, the Flowers went on to produce their favourite cool-climate varietals in a place they believed uniquely suited to growing them.
The winery is a real Sonoma Coast pioneer. Strong advocates of sustainable organic and biodynamic farming practices, the Flowers estate vineyards perch just inland from the Pacific. This rugged (some might say “extreme”) region benefits from cool maritime breezes, clear days, plenty of sun exposure for ripening, and chilly evening fog that produces an unmistakeable fresh acidity in the finished wines.
Flowers harvests fruit by hand in small bins through the early morning hours when the fruit is still cool, then sorts the morning’s harvest by hand. The fruit is gently pressed as whole bunches, then the juice is left to settle before it is moved to fine-grained French oak barrels (toasty new oak as well as more neutral-toned second or third use barrels) for fermentation. Some lucky soul clambers up the stacks of barrels twice a month to stir each on by hand. This traditional method, bâtonnage, whisks up the yeast and fine sediment known as lees that naturally settles to the bottom of the barrels. It’s a detail that encourages a soft-textured mouthfeel in the finished wine. The small lots are blended in early summer, and the wine ages a little longer in bottle prior to release.
The 2015 vintage trades the Sonoma Coast’s trademark electric acidity for a more elegant line. The nose is expressive, with aromas of citrus zest, lime blossom, honeysuckle, and flint. The textured palate is pure Sonoma Coast: minerality, salinity, and a precise-yet-calm acidity that carries through the finish.
“The 2015 Chardonnay Sonoma Coast is an attractive, open-knit Chardonnay to drink now and over the next few years. Lemon confit, hazelnut and dried flowers grace this very pretty, if somewhat hushed, Chardonnay. Veins of underlying salinity add brightness and freshness throughout.”
– 92 points, Antonio Galloni, Vinous, March 2017
Flowers Vineyard & Winery is represented in Ontario by Rogers & Company. If you’re new to Rogers & Company: Welcome! Wines are sold in unmixed cases of 12, 6, or 3, depending on the item. Some wines are available by the bottle at the LCBO. Delivery is easy: We can bring the wine to your door, or you can stop by our office to pick up and meet the crew and the company dog. To learn more about Flowers’ wines, or to place an order: rogcowines.com
Rogers & Company is a Good Food Fighter. Please support the businesses and organizations that support Good Food Revolution.
