Greatest Groth Moment
Here it is The winner of the "Greatest Groth Moment" contest!
This submission was sent to us by Team Red Stripe members, Chip and Patty Stockell.
Dear Groth family and staff,
Our greatest Groth moment, and there have indeed been many, was last September, when our standard group of four couples traveled from various points across the country to Napa Valley for our annual wine-tasting. We always travel the 3rd weekend in September, and usually luck out with a special Groth event during our weekend. 2008 was no exception, as we would be in town for their Groth Reserve party that Saturday.
We planned all our tasting around Groth’s special event, even holding back on some other tastings (which is TOTALLY against the grain of THIS wino group) so we could appreciate the evening at Groth. We arrived at the appointed time and noticed we were only the second car in the lot. OK, seemed a bit odd, but we ventured in ready for the fun. We should have known something was wrong when the receptionist gave us all blank stares, instead of a typical Groth greeting!
Turns out the time of the event was changed to an earlier time, and we weren’t notified of the change. We were the only ones at Groth, and it was closing time! We’re positive every employee was looking forward to going home after a fun, but probably exhausting event. Instead, your staff started pouring the wine, and even brought out leftovers of Kimball’s delectable “food”. We had a private tasting with leftovers at Groth winery! We were made to feel welcome, even though we showed up hours after the event ended (albeit accidentally), and enjoyed tons of laughs and conversation with the staff.
We thank Groth for their outstanding wines and beautiful winery. Our wine-tasting group has made it a point to visit Groth each and every trip to Napa since we started in 1999. Yours is the only winery we can say that about. After our last trip, we even had ballots and everyone voted for their favorite wineries and wines, and we are not lying when we say that Groth won both categories. We have wonderful memories at your events, from drunken ring toss (OK, that was our fault!) to various tastings. We’ve sipped early morning, midday and evening over the years, and no matter what time of day, your back patio overlooking the vineyards is always beautiful and relaxing. Made better with a fine glass of wine.
And all our memories would be nothing if your wines were not outstanding, as they are. So thank you for creating not only a single greatest moment of an accidental personal wine tasting last September, but many other wonderful memories over the years. Keep up the excellent work!
Sincerely and appreciatively,
Chip and Patty Stockell
St. Louis, Missouri
Our First Runner up was Joeseph and Carmen Mardesich, you can read their submission here.
 Groth private tasting!.JPG)