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wineanddinosaur · 6 years ago

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Tasting Groth Napa Cabernets, 1985 to Today (Wine Spectator)

Senior editor James Molesworth is Wine Spectator's lead taster for California Cabernet Sauvignon. He recently returned to Napa Valley for more visits with top wineries. And don't miss our Q&A with James on his Napa Cab eureka moments, his scoring philosophy, and what he's up to when he's not tasting wine.

After my visit at Ovid, atop PritchardHill, I stuck to the valley floor for my next. The differences couldn'tbe starker, but it's that dichotomy that makes Napa Cabernet so fascinating.

Ovid has 15 acres of vines struggling on scraggyvolcanic rock. At Groth, located on the filet mignon of Napa Valley, the OakvilleCross Road, there are 121 acres of vines seemingly gorging themselves on deeploam and gravel. And yet both make compelling wines.

When Dennis and Judy Groth bought a property inNapa Valleyin 1981, it was meant to be a retirement spot. Dennis wasworkingin the Bay Area for Atari during its heyday and he didn't knowanything about farming, but he did like theproperty, whichhad somevines planted by Justin Meyer in the early '70s. As Groth kicked around duringhis spare time he hired Ben Benson to replace the fading vines and expand thevineyard a bit. The plan was to sell off the fruit.A small amount wasbottled under the Groth name, debuting in 1982. A second property of 44 acreswas purchased that same year.

But when Atari crashed in the mid-eighties, the "retirement" plan was accelerated and Groth moved his family up to Napa. Andwhen the market for buying grapes didn't materialize the way Groth expected,plan B became to makeallthe wine themselves. By1985, withNilsVenge as winemaker,Grothwas cranking out 30,000 cases ofwine.A winery was built in 1990 to keep up with the growing productionand in '94 Michael Weiss replaced Venge as winemaker. Weiss oversaw anotherlarge-scale replanting started in 1998 during which time production dropped. By2001 the vineyard was back on an upward trajectory …

It was Venge who isolated the first reserveblock for its potential for Cabernet. There is some soil variation on thesite, and a cooler corner where Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillonare grown. There's some Merlot, too. But it's the reserve blocks (there are now two) that have earned Groth itsreputation. The reserve blocks total 27.5 acres—nearly twice the total ofOvid's entire vineyard.

Cameron Parry is head ofwinegrowing now.Parryjoined in 2014, after a stint at Chateau Montelena,and was promoted in '16, with Weiss earning the winemaker emeritus title.Dennis and Judy's daughter Suzanne, who essentially grew up on the property, is the winery's president.

Groth is Napa scale, with large stainless-steeltanks in the winery, as opposed to the boutique approach. No better or worse,just different, to accommodate valley-floor grapegrowing.

"On the valley floor thereismoreuniformity from vineyard block to vineyard block, as opposedtomountainparcels,"says Parry. "So our picks are bigger, andthus ourtanks are bigger. We do like flexibility, though, so wehave various sizes, from 5 tons up to 20, though we rarely ever have a full 20-tontank."

Parry has also put in a replanting program thatpulls a few acres out each year, to avoid the drastic overhauls Groth wentthrough previously.

"Wedon't want to be in that spot again, wherethere was no reserve Cab from 2000 through 2004, for example," he says. "So 5to 6 acres every year to keep the vineyard in as full and healthy production aspossible."

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Once the grapes come in, they're fermented instainless steel and pressed off before full dryness. "I like that hint of sweetfruit in the wine," says Parry. The wine is moved to barrel for malolactic,where the reserve (3,000-case average annual production) spends 22 months or more in100 percent new French oak. The regular Oakville Cabernet (25,000cases) combines fruit from other parcels on the property along with somepurchased fruit; it spends about 18 to 22 months in 40 percent new French oakprior to bottling.

The 1985 Groth Cabernet Sauvignon Napa ValleyReserve offers a gorgeous plume of savory, tea and blood orange notes followedby gently worn cedar and alder threads, all gliding along with a fully maturedried red currant core. It's a wine of elegance and pedigree. The 1995 Groth Reserveshows the difference 10 years makes on bottle age, as it's a noticeable step upin depth and richness, though still maintains its elegance, with a lingering sweetnessof fruit.Thelatter wine is essentially the beginning of the end,says Weiss.

"With theleaf rollandeutypaissueswe had, we reallycould just barely get it ripe. If we had a cool vintage,I knew we wouldn't get it ripe. … I had to think ahead,"says Weiss.The vineyard had been tornout by 1999, causing the hiatus in the wine's production.

The 2006 Groth Reserve is the new beginning, thesecond vintage after the replant and the first containing the second block.It's lush and long, with waves of cassis, though it keeps the DNA of thevineyard with its alder hint, subtle mineral and sanguine notes and very, veryrefined tannins. It seems as if these are Cabernets of acidity, rather thanmere tannins.

"Absolutely," says Parry."We get a lot oftannin, but it's a very plush tannin. It's not the big bouncy stuff. SoIneed to make sure that core of acidity is there."

Parry also plays liberally with the Merlotpercentage in the wine, ranging from as low as 1 percent in the 2015 to 20 percent in othervintages, such as 2013.

"In a big, muscular year for Cab, I need to tampthat down a bit," he says. "In a gentler year we need less Merlot."

The 2012 Groth Reserve Cab starts a new run of what couldbe called more modern vintages, as the new replants settle in. It's fuller andricher in feel, but doesn't lose its subtlety or finesse, keeping the lightsavory and wood elements infused into a core of warm cassis and plum puree. The2015 Reserve is sappy in its fruit intensity, while the 2016 Reserve isthoroughly gorgeous, with a super suave display of cassis, plum and cherrypreserve flavors infused with alder, sanguine, savory and rooibos tea accents.

The older vintages checked in around 13 perecent, with thenewer ones now topping 14 percent. But this isn't an overt style shift due to marketdesires.The vineyard's character, its DNA echoes through all thevintages.Now that the vineyard has its best plantings to date, theterroirhas a fuller throat withwhich to sing.

Follow James Molesworth on Instagram at @jmolesworth1, and on Twitter at @jmolesworth1.

source https://www.winespectator.com/blogs/show/id/Groth-California-Napa-Cabernet-2019-Vertical-Tasting

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