Mission Codename Spring forward
Napa Cab! You can’t get enough of it, and so we declare “LET THEM DRINK CAB!”. And make it the good stuff. Like this Operative-favorite from earlier this year. Flora Springs!
Normally you’d need to be a wine club member to get your paws on this. But we have the connections and that means YOU have the inside track to score some - at a price no wine club member has seen for that matter.
A blue-chip producer, they bottled their first harvest in 1970 and just recently changed hands. Wine Spectator has the story: “It was love at first sight for Florence Cathiard when she saw the property at Flora Springs. Florence, along with her husband, Daniel, owns Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte in Bordeaux… The Flora Springs purchase is their first foray outside of France. But with that track record, it seems an easy gamble for the Cathiards to elevate the Flora Springs estate they purchased at the end of 2019, especially considering the relatively healthy state of the vineyards.”
Nat Komes’ grandfather, Jerry Komes, always said there were three keys to living life to the fullest. What the three keys were, however, he’d never say, no matter how much his eight grandchildren tried to coax it out of him. Was it ‘Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness,’ ‘Love, Kindness and a Sense of Humor?’ Though he never passed on the secret, Nat pays tribute to him with this wine, sourced from his family’s sustainably farmed vineyards in Napa Valley.
Maybe the secret is just… this wine?
It’s a young wine, just a baby really, but 2019s were terrific, per Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate it was “a vintage that is going to make a lot of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon lovers, in particular, very happy.”
All that to say it’s crazy drinkable right now. Like a refined version of another very well-known Napa Cab (rhymes with “famous”). Lush, polished, soft and expansive. Absolutely prime Napa Cab with ripe red and black fruits - blackberry, cassis, and mixed berry jam. Dark chocolate, sweet baking spices, mocha and melted black licorice. Raised in a mix of 70% French oak and 30% American, it shows off a toasty richness, lower acidity, and an opulent style without pushing the envelope.
International Wine Review recently spotlighted that “Flora Springs is one of the Napa Valley’s storied wineries. Located at the base of the Mayacamas mountain range in Napa Valley, it became famous in the 1990s, especially for its Cabernet Sauvignon… The 2020 Napa wildfires mean Flora Springs had very limited production in that year. In short, if you want to buy Flora Springs Cabernet Sauvignon, do so now.”
You heard it! We’re pumped to have ANY to share. At this price? Less than the cost of their most basic Cabernet?! Get one, or two, at least!
Cabs Worth Splurging On – Food & Wine
“One of the best bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon for your next anniversary, promotion, or big night in… so much ripe, sweet, generously spiced wild red berry fruit here, like strawberries and raspberries, as well as kirsch and balsamic notes that lend this wine terrific lift and energy.”
What the Winery Says
2019 'Three Keys' Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
- Winemaker
- Enrico Bertoz
- Varietal
- 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
- Vintage
- 2019
- Alcohol
- 14.5%
- Appellation
- Rutherford, Napa Valley
- Vineyards
- Komes & Windfall Vineyards
- Aging
- 18 months
- Barrels
- 100% new oak (70% French, 30% American)