Groth’s Commitment to Sustainability:
For the Vineyards, the Family, and the Industry
The vineyard philosophy at Groth isn’t a lofty abstraction; it gets right down into the details. “Each and every vine is managed for its individual needs.” says vineyard manager Ben Benson. “We prune, thin shoots, or leaf pull for balance throughout the vineyard so that all the grapes have uniform ripening and optimum maturity.”
Ben has had plenty of time to get to know every vine in the vineyards. Born and raised in San Francisco, he first arrived in Napa Valley in 1975. Coming, like Dennis Groth, from an accounting background, he was already a Napa grower since 1976 and became Groth’s first employee in 1982. Over the years, he supervised the replanting of Groth Vineyards that began in 1996, selecting the most promising clones and rootstocks that had become available and establishing trellising systems that maximized vine balance. Having replanted over 90 % of the Groth vineyards, Ben knows as much as anyone in the Napa Valley and specifically in Oakville about what techniques work for quality grapes and for environmental stewardship.
More often than not, the same practices that promote grape and wine quality also have an environmental payoff. When Groth replanted, the orientation of the vine rows was changed from cross valley to follow the natural direction of the Napa Valley. This allows the breezes that come up the Valley from the San Pablo Bay to flow more easily through the vineyards. The result is increased air circulation, less mildew and rot on the vines and consequently less need for spraying fungicides—better for the wine, better for the environment.
Preserving natural resources is also a key element of sustainable farming, one step further than organic farming. Sustainable farming practices take into consideration its effects on the whole environment and upon the health of the entire watershed of the Napa Valley. Water is precious in the state of California. Encouraging cover crops not only helps establish a healthy insect population that battles ‘bad bugs’ it also preserves soil moisture. “By encouraging cover crops we actually use less water, and we keep the tractor passes through the vineyards to a minimum,” say Benson. We no longer use tractors to disc and hoe every weed in the vineyard. “If you see weeds in the vineyards, it indicates smart farming and fewer chemicals,” says Dennis Groth.
Another recent innovation involved converting the winery’s leach field to an insectary, a welcoming environment for beneficial insects. The field is now planted with grasses and flowers that attract the insects that help control the damaging ones in the surrounding vineyards. Some of the flowering plants chosen are Achillea Paprika (Yarrow), to attract Ladybugs that are a common predator of damaging leafhoppers, and Ceanothus (California Lilac) which encourages the Lacewing population who combats the Mealybugs that can spread mold and virus in the vineyard.
Proper canopy management that lets more sunshine get to the grapes promotes riper flavors, and also discourages the population of destructive insects, like leafhoppers, reducing the need for pesticides. Benson focuses on balanced vines—making sure that vines are spaced, pruned, trellised and irrigated in a way that produces just the amount of fruit the plants can ripen, no more, no less. Besides promoting uniform ripeness, balanced vines ultimately require less work—fewer tractor passes, less fuel burned, less soil compaction.
Preserving the land is not only good for the grapes; it’s good for sustaining the family-owned business at Groth. Dennis and Judy are proud of what they have accomplished and determined to pass it on. “I’d like to think my kids could make great wine forever off this property,” says Dennis.
Adopting and encouraging sustainable farming methods is hardly unique to Groth; a concern for sustainability has come to characterize the entire leading edge of the California wine industry. And that’s where Dennis Groth’s leadership at the Wine Institute comes in.
The Groths realized long ago that the future of their family’s winery was intimately tied to the future of the industry. During Dennis’s term as chairman of the Wine Institute, the organization embarked on an ambitious effort to develop and popularize a Code of Sustainable Winegrowing Practices. With Dennis’s guidance and encouragement, an industry-wide committee developed a set of standards and a mechanism for self-assessment now in use at hundreds of vineyards and wineries in California. Moving the whole industry forward meant reconciling regional differences, venturing into new and controversial areas like human resource policies, and ensuring that progress could be measured—all areas in which Dennis’s leadership helped make this critical effort successful.
From each individual vine to the wine industry as a whole, sustainability is the core concept and a commitment realized each and everyday at Groth Vineyards & Winery.
Groth Vineyards & Winery 750 Oakville Cross Road P.O. Box 390 Oakville, California 94562 (707) 944-0290
www.grothwines.com