Groth Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon: Vintages, Vineyard and Prices in 2026

The Groth Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon comes from a small set of blocks on the Groth family's estate in Oakville, Napa Valley. Dennis and Judy Groth bought the land in 1981 and made their first wine in 1982 (Groth). The Reserve is the winery's top Cabernet, and the 1985 is the vintage most people know: Robert Parker gave it 100 points (ABC7 News).

Below is what the winery has published about the family, the vineyard and recent vintages, and what the wine sells for today in shops, at auction and on restaurant lists. The vintage details come from Groth's own fact sheets. The prices come from Wine Labs data collected on November 4, 2026.

Groth Reserve Cabernet at a glance

The family and the winemakers

Dennis Groth was chief financial officer of Atari from 1978 and held several senior roles there until 1984. In 1981 the Groths bought a 121-acre parcel in Oakville, and in 1982 they added 44 acres south of Yountville, for 165 acres in all. The family moved onto the Oakville property in 1985 (Dennis and Judy Groth biography). Their daughter Suzanne Groth took over as president and CEO in 2017, and Dennis became chairman (Groth).

Nils Venge, who had been making wine at Villa Mt. Eden next door, made the first vintage. Michael Weis joined in 1994 (Groth). The 2014 Reserve was the first vintage made by Cameron Parry, whom the winery named as Weis's successor (2014 fact sheet). Ted Henry joined in 2021, which the winery describes as only its fourth winemaker in more than four decades (Groth). His title on the fact sheets is Director of Winegrowing.

Where the fruit comes from

The Reserve comes from a band of Cabernet along the east side of Conn Creek on the Oakville estate. The soil is gravelly, sandy loam with a lot of red chert, a hard rock carried down from the Vaca Mountains (Groth vineyards). The 2019 sheet lists the soil as Yolo loam with gravel strata, and clones 7, 15 and 337 (2019 fact sheet).

The size of the Reserve block has changed. The 2014 to 2017 sheets give 27.78 acres, the 2018 and 2019 sheets 27.43 acres, and the 2021 and 2022 sheets 12.10 acres, the figure on the winery's vineyard page today. The 2014 to 2019 sheets say the Merlot in the blend was grown on the family's Hillview vineyard (2017 fact sheet), the 44-acre site in the Oak Knoll District (Groth vineyards).

From 1999 to 2003 Groth replanted all 54 acres of Cabernet on the Oakville estate with new clones and rootstock. It stopped making the Reserve during the replant and brought it back in 2005 (Groth vineyards). That gap shows in our data too: we have no shop offers or auction sales for the 2000 to 2004 vintages.

Reserve vintages

Groth publishes a fact sheet for most recent Reserve vintages. The oak hardly changes: every sheet from 2014 to 2022 lists 22 months in 100% new French oak. The Merlot share is what moves, from 0.2% in 2018 to 9% in 2016 and 2017.

Groth did not list a 2015 or 2020 sheet on its trade page. The sheets also describe the same cellar routine each year: night picking, hand and machine sorting, small steel fermenters, and eight months in barrel before blending, then 14 more months for the final blend (2021 fact sheet).

What Groth Reserve costs today

On November 4, 2026, 621 sellers had the Reserve on offer in a 750 ml bottle. Almost all are in the US (595 sellers), with a few in Canada (7), Japan (6) and South Korea (6). Half of all offers sit between $155 and $196, and the median is $170.

AuctionMedian of 642 sales, buyer's premium included$94

ShopsMedian of 621 sellers, all vintages$170

RestaurantsMedian of 263 wine lists$293

Per 750 ml bottle, US dollars, November 2026. Groth publishes no price online.

Channel	Price	Basis
Auction	$94	Median of 642 sales, buyer's premium included
Shops	$170	Median of 621 sellers, all vintages
Restaurants	$293	Median of 263 wine lists

These three prices don't measure the same thing. Shop prices mix recent vintages. Auction prices are what one lot sold for, with the buyer's premium but before shipping, tax and storage. A restaurant price includes service. Groth does not show a price on its website, so we leave the winery out.

By vintage, shop medians run from $160 for the 2016 to $180 for the 2017 and 2019. At auction the 2015 to 2021 vintages sold for a median of $85 to $105.

$0$50$100$150$200

2015$86$172

2016$103$160

2017$85$180

2018$102$165

2019$92$180

2021$105$170

Medians per 750 ml. Vintages with at least five shop sellers and five auction sales.

Vintage	Shop median	Auction median
2015	$172	$86
2016	$160	$103
2017	$180	$85
2018	$165	$102
2019	$180	$92
2021	$170	$105

We leave a cell empty when fewer than five sellers or five sales stand behind it. Per-vintage shop figures leave out stores whose listings do not state a reliable vintage.

At auction

We have 642 Groth Reserve sales with a recorded price, at 19 auction houses, from January 2003 to October 2026. K&L Wines (156 lots), Acker Merrall Condit (90) and Spectrum Wine Auctions (80) account for the most.

One vintage stands apart. The 1985, the 100-point wine, has 51 recorded sales with a median of $399 a bottle. No other vintage has an auction median above $139, the median for the 1984.

Across all vintages, the auction median has stayed between $72 and $105 a year since 2012.

All vintages, per 750 ml, buyer's premium included. 2026 runs to October.

Year	Median	Sales
2012	$86	12 sales
2013	$102	7 sales
2014	$83	37 sales
2015	$98	18 sales
2016	$73	8 sales
2017	$94	15 sales
2018	$81	36 sales
2019	$72	45 sales
2020	$87	44 sales
2021	$103	38 sales
2022	$102	34 sales
2023	$104	54 sales
2024	$92	65 sales
2025	$88	91 sales
2026	$105	92 sales

On restaurant lists

The Reserve is on 263 restaurant wine lists in our data, nearly all in the US, collected between January 2025 and November 2026. The median list price is $293 a bottle, and half the lists price it between $240 and $352.

The Reserve in the Groth range

Groth makes Cabernet, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and a red blend. These are the ones with the most sellers in our data, all vintages together.

Buying Groth Reserve

The Groth Wine Club has three releases a year, and the Reserve goes out in the October release. The winery also keeps a Reserve List, open to anyone who buys six or more bottles of the current Reserve, member or not. Older vintages, the 1985 among them, come up at auction.

See all Groth wines on the Groth producer page. See live prices and auction history in Wine Labs market data.

Data methodology: Wine Labs data, November 4, 2026, for "Groth Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Oakville". Shop prices are live 750 ml offers from online merchants and wine shops, one price per seller per vintage (the lowest), with each chain counted once, and with multi-bottle packs and the winery's own shop left out. Auction prices are sold lots with a recorded result, buyer's premium included, per 750 ml bottle, with mixed lots and flagged outliers left out. Restaurant prices are one bottle price per restaurant. All prices in US dollars. Blends and cellar details are from Groth's fact sheets and product pages, linked above.