diff --git a/row_group_test.go b/row_group_test.go
index 4474438c..cb85a976 100644
--- a/row_group_test.go
+++ b/row_group_test.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package parquet_test
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
+	"io"
 	"reflect"
 	"sort"
 	"testing"
@@ -421,3 +422,27 @@ func TestMergeRowGroups(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func TestWriteRowGroupClosesRows(t *testing.T) {
+	var rows []*wrappedRows
+	rg := wrappedRowGroup{
+		RowGroup: newPeopleFile([]Person{{}}),
+		rowsCallback: func(r parquet.Rows) parquet.Rows {
+			wrapped := &wrappedRows{Rows: r}
+			rows = append(rows, wrapped)
+			return wrapped
+		},
+	}
+	writer := parquet.NewWriter(io.Discard)
+	if _, err := writer.WriteRowGroup(rg); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if err := writer.Close(); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	for _, r := range rows {
+		if !r.closed {
+			t.Fatal("rows not closed")
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/writer.go b/writer.go
index 00ac1dec..ef76ef4f 100644
--- a/writer.go
+++ b/writer.go
@@ -179,7 +179,9 @@ func (w *Writer) WriteRowGroup(rowGroup RowGroup) (int64, error) {
 		return 0, err
 	}
 	w.writer.configureBloomFilters(rowGroup.ColumnChunks())
-	n, err := CopyRows(w.writer, rowGroup.Rows())
+	rows := rowGroup.Rows()
+	defer rows.Close()
+	n, err := CopyRows(w.writer, rows)
 	if err != nil {
 		return n, err
 	}