2018 Groth Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Oakville Napa Valley 750 ml

About a decade after the 1976 Judgment of Paris tasting legitimized California Cabernet to the world, Robert Parker bestowed his very first 100-point review of a California wine on the Groth Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve from Oakville. It immediately made this spectacular bottling a legend.

The iconic Oakville winery hasn’t lost a step since they helped redefine Napa Cabernet excellence four decades ago. Their Reserve Cabernet took the #4 spot in Wine Spectator’s Top 100 just two years ago, and it has earned a perfect five-out-of-five rating from our members. The 2018, from what’s considered one of Napa’s greatest vintages, earned a 96-point Spectator score that put it alongside stars like Lokoya and Paul Hobbs’s To Kalon. 

The wine comes from Groth’s Reserve Block in Oakville, which sits atop an ancient alluvial fan and comprises fewer than 28 of their 165 acres of Napa vineyard land. The painstaking treatment of the wine begins in the vineyard, where the grapes are thinned three times, once before veraison and twice after. At harvest, clusters are picked at night to preserve acidity then hand-sorted at the winery. 

After destemming, the grapes are mechanically sorted to make sure only the best berries make it into the tank. Fermentation takes place in temperature-controlled stainless-steel vessels, then the wine moves to 100% new French oak in Groth’s dedicated two-level Reserve barrel room. A 22-month rest in barrel builds elegance and complexity, after which the wine ages an additional 14 months in bottle.

Coming from Napa’s 99-point vintage, the 2018 Groth Reserve is the same kind of blockbuster that put the winery on the map. It’s a must for any Napa Cabernet collector, so don’t miss it.