The rest of the American wine industry not named California, Oregon and Washington has long been a humble lot, taking their wins gracefully and growing, growing, growing, quietly, respectfully even. To borrow from President Theodore Roosevelt, they’ve been walking softly and carrying a big stick. The size of some Midwestern wineries would shock and startle many in the industry, but it’s not in the Midwestern ethos to do a lot of chest puffing. In fact, in Missouri the motto is explicitly, “Show Me.”
Well, they’re getting ready to.
Move over ZAP, Rhone Rangers and other consumer/industry collaborative varietal aficionado groups. There’s a new sheriff in town and his name is Norton.
Dr. Norton, that is. And, he’s come to take what’s his—a place on the national stage of wine reputation, notoriety, consumer acceptance and sales.
Norton, “The Cabernet of the Ozarks,” from its namesake, Dr. D.N. Norton, is credited with being a true American original grape varietal and the First Annual National Norton Wine Festival takes place this Saturday, September 8th in St. Louis, Missouri.
This is notable for a couple of reasons:
First, all wine consumers are familiar with vitis vinifera grapes, the scientific classification for grape varieties commonly used to make wine—Cabernet, Riesling, others.
However, lesser known and more indigenous to the eastern half of the U.S. are vitis labrusca grapes—Catawba and the like. Chances are if you live in California, you look down your nose at these varietals—mostly, likely, because we automatically don’t like that which we don’t understand.
Trust me, as an Indiana native and somebody who has drunk a lot of wine from a lot of different local and regional wineries, a lot of it completely forgettable. But, Norton is different.
Different, perhaps, because the first clue is that the Norton grape is actually a slightly different species then vinifera and labrusca and is scientifically known as aestivalis.
From Appellation America:
Norton, also known as Cynthiana, is the oldest native North American varietal in commercial cultivation today. The cultivar belongs to the aestivalis species of vine, which by American wine standards is ancient. As early as 1770 renowned Philadelphian botanist John Bartram made note in his horticultural journals of a native vine type that was popular amongst mid-Atlantic colonist who domesticated it for its usefulness in winemaking – the cited vine type is now reasonably believed to be Vitis aestivalis, and is quite likely the antecedent to the variety we know today as Norton.
Secondly, the Festival is notable because, Midwesterner’s, a humble lot, aren’t known for fantastic chest beating, especially in the name of shameless promotion, even if that was the right course of action.
I’ve long thought that Midwest grape growers, sometimes lost in the shuffle on a national stage against quality from the West Coast, should play up the “we’re different” card to a greater degree, especially if the quality is in the bottle. Where other varietals fall short against a baseline of California wines, Norton shines.
The analogy I would use is relative to any public fascination—music, sports, fashion, acting, etc. The unknown new star that rockets out of nowhere to gain fame and awareness is always asked, “where did you come from?” Often times the answer is, “I’ve been working hard to get to this point and I’m going to make sure my hard work is going to pay off.”
Sipping on a flagship wine from Missouri’s most famous (and oldest) winery, the ’04 Stone Hill Winery Norton, is a beauty—delightfully spicy bouquet, dense color saturation, and mouth-filling fruit reminiscent of a Shiraz/Merlot blend with fruit, earth, spice and a gorgeous finish. In short, it’s a great wine, and a wine, in a blind tasting that would confound experts who undoubtedly would be baffled by its quite elegance and understated beauty.
From Appellation America:
As Norton, the variety typically produces rich deeply pigmented wines with spicy, raspberry-scented aromas, hints of coffee and bittersweet chocolate, good aging potential, and little ‘native’ character.
So, in the lead-up to the First Annual National Norton Festival, it pleases me, as a Midwesterner, an egalitarian and an advocate for the offbeat to see that Norton, long an unrecognized grape varietal star east of the Mississippi is making a grab for attention, kind of like the starlet who says, “I’ve been working hard … and my hard work is going to pay off.”
Us Midwesterners, we might not brag, sure, but there’s something to the First Annual National Norton Wine Festival.
They surely could have left the “National” out of the name. But, that’s how we do things around here and I’m sure if you don’t notice now, we’ll show you later.
For Additional Reading: