Looking out the window of her family-owned winery to the west, Suzanne Groth, president and CEO of Groth Vineyards & Winery, sees a vineyard dotted by Napa Valley oaks, the trees that give this region its name – Oakville.
Oakville, California, is internationally known for its highly prized Cabernet Sauvignon. The vineyards to Groth’s west are planted to this iconic grape. Groth Winery has enjoyed a number of awards for its Reserve Cabernets over the years, including a perfect 100-point score in 1985.
To the east, Groth’s picture tells a different story. Once planted to Cabernet, these clay-soil vineyards were replanted, starting in 1994, to Sauvignon Blanc. Nine years ago, realizing the potential of these soils to produce complex white wines, the family added a parcel of Sémillon.
Now, these two traditional white Bordeaux varieties – Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon – are blended together to produce Groth’s first white from this eastern section of their estate.
Suzanne Groth took over the business from her father in 2017. She serves on the board of The Wine Institute and is president of the Oakville Winegrowers. Besides wine, Groth’s other passion is art. Many of her vineyard-inspired paintings hang on the walls of the winery.
I caught up with Groth recently to ask about the family’s vineyard and winemaking decisions and her outlook for Oakville going forward. (Comments have been edited for length and clarity.)
On experimenting with new wine styles
Dennis and Judy Groth purchased their 121-acre Oakville vineyard in 1981. A year later, they bought the Hillview vineyard, a 44-acre parcel in the Oak Knoll AVA (American Viticultural Area) south of Yountville, for its Merlot. Their first winemaker used Sauvignon Blanc grapes from this cool-climate Hillview parcel to make a single varietal wine.
When Michael Weis, the Groths’ second winemaker, arrived in 1994, he had a different vision and that included a warm-climate Sauvignon Blanc. He convinced the Groths to replant the eastern side of their Oakville estate, where the Cabernet was not ripening well, to Sauvignon Blanc.
The estate’s third and current winemaker, Cameron Parry, who joined the team in 2014, wanted to experiment with fermenting in concrete. “Winemakers are artists and love to be creative. It’s great to see them stretch their legs a little bit. There was so little trial and error on this estate.”
On replanting and sustainability
In 2018, the Groth family began a systematic replanting project expected to take more than 30 years to complete. Following the Bordeaux region’s lead on this, they’re replanting five to seven acres at a time to keep their vineyards operational and productive.
To Groth, sustainability is about keeping the business going for future generations. “Cabernet is most suited to Oakville, but not every acre of Oakville. Cabernet with clay will not be world class. We want to be flexible in our plan going forward.
Farming is a super important strategy. We’ve switched farming techniques – we banned weed killer; we embraced cover crops before, but it was not until 2014 that we dialed into finding the right cover crops. We realized the less touch you can have – tractor passes, sulfur spraying – the better. We aren’t certified organic, but we flipped to an organic, holistic approach.”
On the 2020 wildfires and smoke taint
“It’s been a challenging year. The advantage of being on the valley floor – it’s like visiting Bordeaux – the only thing you can see are vineyards. Vineyards are 20% of the valley floor. Mountain ranges [on both sides] hem us in. We’re surrounded by green – it’s super-fireproof.
Nothing protects you from smoke. We were very worried in August. This is not our first rodeo. What matters is proximity, intensity, and duration. We had smoke exposure in August from the Mendocino fires. The Glass Fire was very close. We suspended harvest once the fire started [in late September].
This was the heartbreak harvest – we abandoned 90-100 tons of fruit on two of our blocks [on the Oakville estate]. In 2000, we had a really wet year and virus. We had to wave off taking fruit. The labor force depends on the harvest. To call off harvest is a huge decision; we don’t take it lightly. Given the extremely poor air quality, we could not in good conscience ask our employees to harvest grapes or process fruit outdoors on our crush pad.
Fortunately, we had already harvested all of our Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon, and Merlot, along with a good portion of our Cabernet, before the Glass Fire began. The lots of white and red wines in our cellar are tasting beautifully so far, with no perceivable smoke taint through sensory or lab analysis. We will continue to test and monitor our wines at every step of the winemaking process, and we ultimately will not bottle wines without full confidence of their integrity. At this stage, we are encouraged we will produce quality wines from the 2020 vintage despite the challenges Mother Nature has thrown at us. Sadly, we know this is not the case for many of our friends in the valley.”
On climate change
“We’re such a short time span when thinking about climate change. Vineyards are incredibly resilient – naturally quite hardy. We’re on a healthy water table. There have been 10 floods since we moved here [in 1985]. It’s been only in the last decade that Napa’s found a way, through civil engineering, to alleviate flooding. We have more drought. This creates challenging situations in the mountains. They’re fighting over water – on the mountainside. The valley floor has all the water. Our problem is too much water, to be honest. We’ve used cover crops to try to balance [the amount of water].”
On optimism and the future
“Groth has had 40 years of making world-class Cabernet and beautiful Sauvignon Blanc. We’ve only scratched the surface. We’ve been enthusiastic about attempting things, trying things. We chose Petit Verdot to add. It’s the first red varietal we’ve introduced.”
Plans are to produce a proprietary red blend of Merlot, Cabernet, and Petit Verdot. Beyond that, Groth and her team are asking lots of questions.
“What can work well here? What other raw materials? What is the other color we can use on our palette? Are there things we can do well? We don’t know everything. That sense of discovery is what we’re excited about.”
About the wine – 2019 Groth Estate White, Oakville, Napa Valley
Sauvignon Blanc 79%, Semillon 21%
(While the wine for this post was provided, opinions are my own.)
From the tech sheet:
“A warm, sunny climate is key to successfully growing the style of Sauvignon Blanc we seek, with ripe flavors of stone and tropical fruits and a rich, mouth-coating texture. We harvest each small lot of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon grapes when the fruit is ripe but still holds the acidity that gives the wine its fresh, crisp edge. The grapes are whole cluster-pressed to maximize fruit character and maintain softness. After the juice has settled, we move it to a combination of second-fill Acacia, neutral French oak barrels, concrete egg, and stainless-steel tanks. This variety of vessels increases the wine’s complexity as it goes through a long, cool fermentation. We maintain all lots separately, allowing the wine to age sur lie [on the spent yeast] for over three months to add body and a creamy texture. We subsequently blend the lots together and age the wine for an additional three months prior to bottling. We suppress malolactic fermentation to preserve the fresh fruit character of the wine. Just 365 cases were produced.”
My tasting notes: Bright straw in color. I get plenty of late-summer aromas – melon and ripe nectarine – with a light, summery breeze of freshly cut hay. The medium-weight palate is tangy and creamy with pineapple and grapefruit upfront and a squeeze of lemon on a medium+ finish. Medium+ acidity. Alcohol: 13.6%. Price: $50.
Suggested pairings: Most any poultry or meaty, fatty fish such as salmon or scallops would complement this wine. Here’s our amazing pairing, if you want to try it:
- One-Pot Fettucine Alfredo
- Sauteed Maitake mushrooms
- Chicken sausage
- Apple fennel salad
Why this works: This pairing has everything – creamy pasta, savory mushrooms and sausage, and a vinegary salad. Just the right balance for this smooth and zingy white blend.
Some things are worth the wait!
Linda, thank you. You work lightening fast, I’m impressed. I appreciate the time and your thoughtful writing.
Thanks for taking the time to talk with me, Suzanne!