When Kara Groom launched her small, independent wine label, Ra Ra Wine Co., in 2018, the fledgling winemaker never imagined she’d be named 2026 Winemaker of the Year in the North Coast Wine Challenge less than a decade later.
Raised in Sonoma County by South Australian parents, Groom didn’t plan to work in the wine industry even though her father is a respected winemaker. “I like to say I got tricked into it,” says Groom, laughing. “I was home from college and my dad told me I could earn a lot of money working harvest in Australia. I did one harvest and was immediately hooked. I fell in love with the work-hard, play-hard lifestyle.”
Today, the 34-year-old winemaker produces about 1,000 cases of wine each year for her Healdsburg-based brand, focusing on easy-drinking expressions of fresh, lively whites and less-common, lower-alcohol reds…