Flowers Vineyard Sea View Ridge Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast

Description

Flowers Vineyard was purchased in 1989 by Walt and Joan Flowers and comprises 321 acres on the northern Sonoma Coast, high above the Pacific Ocean. Their intention was to produce Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in a place they believed uniquely suited to growing these varities. The are located in the extreme Sonoma Coast, actually on the coast (most of the Sonoma Coast appellation isn’t, hence the Flowerses insistence on the “True Sonoma Coast”). Flowers’ first winemaker, Greg La Follette describes it as “where God meant for Pinot Noir to be grown”. Initially 21 acres were planted on a narrow ridge known as Camp Meeting Ridge, a warm site in a cool climate largely above the fogs but still cooled by the ocean breeze. This vineyard still represents the heart and soul of the winery. With elevations ranging from 1150 to 1375 feet it is just two miles from the Pacific. A new site was planted in 2001: two distinct vineyards which make up the Flowers Ranch: the Frances Thompson Vineyard and Sea View Ridge Vineyard. Elevations range from 1400 to 1875 feet, again well above the summer fog which cools the site from below. Like Camp Meeting Ridge, Flowers Ranch is an ideal site in a cool climate. Views from the ridgetop vineyards are unobstructed, offering a 360 degree panorama of the surrounding mountains, valleys and coastline. The first vintages from Camp Meeting Ridge were made at Kistler but by 1997 the Flowerses had completed their own winery. Ross Cobb arrived in 2000 as assistant winemaker to Hugh Chapelle and took the lead role when Chapelle left in 2004. The farming practice he and Flowers’ viticulturalist have implemented is designed to achieve ripeness without high alcohol levels. The wines are characterized by saturation of flavour but also by racy aromatics and acidities, elegance and finesse.