When people gush about cool-climate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from Sonoma County, there’s a pretty good chance they’re fans of Flowers Vineyards & Winery. For more than 30 years, the producer has been wowing wine lovers with elegant estate bottlings from the windblown western Sonoma Coast.
The story
Walt and Joan Flowers had already established a successful nursery business in Pennsylvania when a classified ad in Wine Spectator caught their eye. The 1989 listing advertised a property for sale on the Sonoma Coast: Camp Meeting Ridge. Though the region was unproven for viticulture at the time, the couple bought the rugged, 327-acre site just two miles from the Pacific Ocean and planted Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. They launched Flowers Vineyards & Winery in 1991 and later acquired the Sea View Ridge vineyard site — this time, even closer to the ocean.
Shaped through the years by talented winemakers such as Steve Kistler, Hugh Chapelle and Ross Cobb, Flowers became a benchmark for cool-climate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the far reaches of the west Sonoma Coast. In 2009, Huneeus Vintners — the owners of Faust and Quintessa in Napa Valley, among other brands — purchased the winery and the Flowers retired from the operation…