NORTON- America’s True Grape

America’s True Grape

This is a story about Dr. Daniel Norborne Norton and the Virginia Norton grape variety. Although some believe that the Norton is a true native of North America, most experts suspect that it is a hybrid of one or more native varieties.

Virginia, whose first vineyard was planted in 1608 (Jamestown) the first in all the NEW WORLD to native grapes and up to very recent years Virginia’s most successful varietals were hybrids such as Seyval Blanc and Vidal Blanc. The Virginia wine industry has blossomed over the past decade to the point where the state ranks 5th among vinifera-growing U. S. states

The Norton Grape was introduced by Dr. Daniel Norborne Norton of Richmond, Virginia, who selected it from among what he believed were seedlings of a long forgotten grape variety called Bland, though there is some doubt as to whether it was the actual source of the seed which yielded Norton. The male parent, presumably, was a wild vine of Vitis aestivalis. However, it is uncertain whether Dr. Norton’s gift to the wine world was the result of a selected seedling, or if it was a natural or purposely made hybrid.

This grape became available commercially in Virginia about 1830 and very soon after that came to dominate wine production in the eastern and midwestern USA. By American standards, this makes it ancient; in fact, it most likely is the oldest native grape now in wide cultivation. A half-dozen or so commercial grape varieties of Native American ancestry are grown in a broad swath from western Kansas to eastern Virginia.

The Norton grape produces a rich, dry red table wine and has been cultivated in Virginia since 1820. At the 1873 Vienna World Exposition a Norton wine won a gold medal. Henry Vizetelly, a noted critic of the time, said that Norton would one day rival the great wines of Europe in quality and quantity.The Norton grape wine was declared the “best red wine of all nations” at this worldwide competition in Vienna. The following year, a French commission studying American wines at Montpellier gave Norton wines the same high marks. Many of the nation’s finest hotels and restaurants stocked Virginia vintages. The wine was traded in probably two dozen states. President U.S. Grant is known to have kept a righteous supply in his White House cellars. The grape was tried but did not bear well in California. It was also grown in France, certainly on a small scale, for at least two decades in the late 19th century.

In Virginia, the grape has a dedicated -- almost cult-like -- following of winemakers and consumers. However, despite the high quality of the wine and its highly marketable all-American image, Norton’s fame has been slow to spread to all corners of the continent. Perhaps the greatest hindrance to Norton’s wider recognition, aside from prohibitive shipping laws which have restricted the wines distribution, is the challenge it presents to grape vine growers.

However, if you are looking for the next hot red wine? A vigorous Norton cult grape seems to be taking root across the nation in an effort to gain title to this spot. The grape is Norton, Vitis aestivalis, a nongrafted vine that is largely disease-free. It's one of some two dozen grape species native to North America, and stands out as one of the few that are capable of developing enough sugar to produce solid traditional wine. The blue-black grape berries bloom and ripen late, and produce a full-bodied dry red wine.

Travel & Leisure Magazine named Virginia as “One of Five Up-and-Coming Wine Regions” in the world in its July, 2007 issue. It was the only American wine region featured. Other regions were in Chile, Spain, New Zealand, and Italy.

Veramar Norton Strikes GOLD as the Acclaimed Veramar Winery Brings Home medals from International Competition. Veramar Vineyard, the award-winning Virginia Shenandoah Valley producer of premium wines, achieved one of the industry’s highest honors recently when it garnered a Gold Medal for the Veramar Norton at the 2006 Indiana International Wine Competition, the premier competition of its kind in the world. Wines from around the world poured into the Blue Ribbon Pavilion for the fifteenth annual Indy International Wine Competition. The largest wine competition in the US, the Indy International brought in over 3,800 wines from 17 countries.

Zinfandel is often described as America’s first and most original gift to the world of wine. Actually, it’s Norton. Today, in the Virginia the wineries are re-cultivating and producing wines from Virginia Norton grapes.

Cheers from Veramar Vineyard
Jim Bogaty