Groth’s Estate White is a new cuvée, a blend of 79 percent Sauvignon blanc and 21 percent Sémillon grown in the clay soils of their property in Oakville. The grapes were whole-cluster pressed and the must was settled before fermentation in a mix of vessels: neutral French oak barrel, acacia barrel, concrete egg, and stainless tank. The wine aged for three months on lees before blending, whereafter the wine reposed for an additional three months before bottling. Malolactic was suppressed. The winery made 365 cases of this inaugural vintage.
It’s moony yellow. Sauvignon dominates the aromatics with its characteristic green citrus and slight muskiness. But the wine also earns a kind of waxiness from the Sémillon, and there’s also a whiff of vanilla and honey. The wine’s acidity makes it feels linear at the attack, but then it spreads out in the ample structure I associate with Sauvignon. A pleasing, waxy sappiness adds dimension.
This is not a fruit-driven wine; its flavors are lightly peachy and citrusy, but mostly, to me, it evokes trees and meadow, honey and birch. Don’t serve it too cold.
2019 Groth Estate White Wine Oakville Napa Valley
13.6% abv | $50 (sample)
