Fantastic Wine - 1984 Groth Cabernet

This is just about as good as an older Napa Cabernet gets! Full, warm berry flavors, not much spice, oak fully integrated, tannins fully resolved. The mouthfeel! Round and lush in the mouth, with soft, lingering finish.

Label says 17% Merlot; 12.5% ABV. Nils Venge really nailed this one, and it is in for the long haul.

Just think of the cellar and drinking Mike Pobega would have if he was cellaring instead of drinking all those new Cabs of the 2000s .

I remember drinking lots of these bottles back in the late 80’s and they were very good back then.

The 1983 and 1984 are very good, and of course the legendary 1985, but the 1986 didn’t please me. Thinner, greener - different animal. But I imagine this 1984 drank well back upon release, and the back label note written by Nils refers to that early drinkability.

Nice. That would be awesome if Mike liked them …old.
BTW, it would be a fantastic cellar…
Let’s face it, wines from that era never tasted like these wines of today do at 3, 5, or 10 years of age. They were more classically structured.

On my tombstone I have instructed my wife to inscribe: Here lies Mike, He never met a young Cabernet that he ever regretted drinking young—almost never.
I am glad you are drinking well! Have a great weekend!

Did Nils Venge make the 84 Roth?

Groth is one of the those places I would love to own and turn around if I had the gazillions needed to buy it. They have some killer Oakville land right on the riverbed near Plumpjack and use to make excellent wines from that vineyard. I have no idea where they went wrong, but I suspect over-production is one of the issues. There is simply not THAT much great land in Napa for dozens of wineries to make 40,000+ cases of top Cabernet juice. Piling on success with increased production at the behest of accountants is the fastest way to mediocrity in wine.

Merrill,
Thanks for the note. My only experience with Groth was a non-reserve cab from 1990 that I bought for a song a couple years ago. It was lovely and greatly exceeded my humble expectations. Still had some fruit and tannin left so well-stored bottles are surely still going strong.

Good review.
I had a 98 Groth Cab (regular bottling) about a year ago that was still drinking very well.
A 2005 Groth Reserve I had in 2009 was one of the best young Cali cabs I’ve had.


\

I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=33.837277,-84.436099

Thanks for the TN.

Back in the day, I used to stock up on these. Winex had them for $13 then $20 then $30 then $45 or so. The ones from the early 90’s are terrific wines and have held up well. I had a 95 recently that was quite good. I very much enjoyed a 92 when I last tasted it a few years back.
I think my last vintage purchased was 1999; the prices kept increasing at a rate such that I was getting priced out of Napa Cab. I still have a few from the 90’s; I will revisit soon.

I remember visiting them in the 80s when they were operating out of a little farmhouse just west of Highway 29 and tasting some yummy wines from that era. By the time they built their McCastle of a new winery, I think it was all over.

I opened another bottle of this last night, and it lost absolutely nothing in terms of enjoyment in the 18 months since I opened the one in my original post.

What was more prominent upon pulling the cork was the spice - notably cloves - and leather and earth. The huge fruit was there in abundance - this nearly put me in olfactory overload! It was like seeing an old friend who had changed slightly in appearance, but was wearing the age well. The fruit was rich and screamed of dark cherry upon pulling the cork, and by the second glass, it had softened into a one-ness that can’t be described.

The calling card to this wine is still the mouthfeel - oh to make a wine like that! Soft, round, lush - absolutely mouth-coating. A lingering finish without any bite.

Cheers to you, Nils, this is a complete winner.

+1. It’s a shame that their wines today aren’t even close to what they used to be.

MBA-Think: “Quality, Schmaulity, do we realize larger profits under the old business model or under the new business model?”

Great to hear about this wine still in good condition. I had quite a few bottles throughout the '90s and was impressed by how it kept on keeping on. A little-noted wonder was the '82, from a not-great Napa vintage – terrific wine for a really long time.

And that one would have been the first vintage, if memory serves me.

I assume the 84 was a regular (non reserve) bottling?

Yes, both bottles I posted on were the 1984 regular (not Reserve) bottlings.

This is not a wine for people who are not appreciative of older Napa Cabs, but those of us who cut our wine-appreciating teeth on older wines of excellent provenance, they are so wonderful. I like new, young Cabernets as well, and consume my share of them. But these old guys when made and stored well? Priceless.

Sounds like a fantastic bottle, Merrill. Special occasion or just another night of fine drinking at your house?

Great notes, Merrill! That’s a birth year wine for me, which I hadn’t even previously considered. My experiences with more recent Groth vintages have been rather lackluster. Will definitely be looking to pick some up after reading this thread.