Thank you to our travel writer Kathy Chin Leong for doing the hard work of chocolate tasting for us.
Robert and Tara are a couple so adorable you just want to take them home and adopt them. I recently met this engaging pair when I stopped in for tea time at their shop Fleur Sauvage Chocolates in Sonoma County.
As the story goes, Robert Nieto always dreamed of working in food, desserts in particular. Securing a community college baking certificate was just the beginning. His sweet tooth led this Texan to Las Vegas where he worked as pastry sou chef at high-end hotels such as the Bellagio and Venetian. That’s where he met Tara, the love of his life, who happened to be on vacation. They eventually married, and together they sought to fulfill Robert’s sweet ambitions to be the best of the best. Says Tara, “I was in law enforcement and the fire service for 20 years. Robert was always supportive of my dreams and I was able to have a full career doing something I loved and believed in.” Now with some business classes under her belt, she was ready to try something different.
At Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bistro and at Bouchon Bakery in Napa Valley, Robert forged ahead in the prestigious role of pastry chef. Robert soared into the Michelin-star stratosphere at Madrona Manor in Sonoma County in the same capacity, but now he wanted more. Things got serious in the chocolate world when he established the chocolate program at Jackson Family Wines. Meanwhile, he faced off with elite bakers in international chocolate competitions and appeared on Food Network TV shows: Candy Land, Beat Bobby Flay, and Cookie Wars. He won Food Network’s Holiday Wars with his rosemary dark chocolate bonbon.
The chocolate calling was loud and clear. By December 2021, he and Tara opened Fleur Sauvage in tiny downtown Windsor. Three years prior, they were making and selling chocolates at farmer’s markets and festivals. At last, they could open a storefront with a commercial kitchen, pastry and chocolate showcase, café sitting area, and backyard garden. With existing clients who were big fans, Tara revealed that the shop was “ immediately successful.”. The shop’s moniker is clearly on point. Wildflower in French is Fleur Sauvage, explains Tara. “We thought this name sounded beautiful and also embodied Robert’s wild, bright, yet sophisticated style.”
The couple likes to say that the destination is truly an experience, and it is true. The opportunity to sip coffee, savor confections, and absorb the ambiance satisfies everyone’s need for pause and contemplation. There’s a tiny nook for used books and novels where customers can sit and read. Another corner features a small pile of Fleur Sauvage postcards with colored pencils.
Repeated trips to Paris have resulted in a Parisian aesthetic Tara has replicated. Snowy walls, wood block tables, and white metal farm chairs – the look allows Robert’s seasonal chocolate sculptures, several feet high, to take center stage. Chocolate birds, branches, trees, and flowers are the literal eye candy eliciting oohs and aahs on a daily basis.
The glass pastry case is laden with tantalizing French pastries that stand out like colorful jewels. Take for instance the Cocoa Pod, shaped as a literal cocoa pod, filled with chocolate mousse and jam or the Raspberry Strawberry and Vanilla dessert which is a layered mousse with vanilla cake.
Beverages are also of the highest quality. They source coffee from Avid, a local coffee atelier. For 50 cents, you get a chance to add a tablespoon of olive oil to the house java which provides a hint of the savory and frothiness to the milk.
The store sells bottles of Lorina brand artisanal lemonade and Fentiman’s “botanically brewed” rose lemonade.
In the backyard, Tara has curated a shaded lawn retreat with trees, blooms, and cushioned furnishings. According to Tara, the Mother’s Day Teas and other events always sell out.
The milk and dark bonbon creations are the highlight of the shop, of course. Meticulous care goes into heart, rose, sphere, and geometric shapes with fillings such as raspberry milk chocolate ganache olive oil, and fennel pollen.
Fleur Sauvage offers a cornucopia of unusual chocolate gifts: heart-shaped boxes made of chocolate and filled with (yes) chocolates; wine bottles made of pure chocolate (true to scale), an antique journal that opens, revealing a box filled with bon bons.
This December the store celebrates its third anniversary. For the first two years, the couple held separate jobs as they operated the shop. Then when COVID hit, they made home deliveries. Work has been hard, but satisfying.
The couple has expanded the business plan with winery partnerships featuring special chocolates for wine pairings. Robert constantly experiments with new desserts, chocolates, and more recently, cakes, having been influenced by his trips to Japan to study its “dessert culture.” Tara tends to daily operations, helms the counter, and toils behind the scenes with social media and marketing. Fleur Sauvage maintains its Petit and Sweet Tea time on weekends, and will soon be taking orders for its chocolate Advent calendars.
“We have never had employees so everything is on our shoulders,” she says. “Whenever we think back, we have no idea how we survived.” But now they are thriving as a community hub for everything from celebrations to romantic dates to grab-and-go snacking. “Robert and I slowly grew Fleur Sauvage Chocolates. I haven’t looked back and love everything about being a business owner and getting to work with my husband.”
- Fleur Sauvage Chocolates is located at 370 Windsor River Rd, Windsor, CA 95452
- Check them out online at Fleur Sauvage Chocolates
