PfW logo.  Search PfW    A cluster of ripe Norton grapes.The
American "native son" of wine grape varieties, Norton is mostly
absent the "foxy" aroma and taste present in many indigenous
North American grapes, but which consumers more familiar with
the flavor of vinifera varieties find somewhat alien.
Botanically, Norton is Vitis aestivalis, the "summer grape",
also known as Cynthiana1, Red River, and Virginia Seedling; the
grape may well have originated near the Virginia site where the
variety was discovered and cultivated, c. 1823-28.  According to
Nurseryman William Prince who published the first description of
the grape in 1830, along with an offer to sell plants, Dr Daniel
Norborne Norton, a dedicated horticulturist from Richmond,
Virginia, was the first to cultivate it and bring it to Prince's
attention.2  In the middle of the 19th century, as the American
wine industry was first beginning to achieve some success and
regard, a respected English wine critic declared Norton from
Hermann, Missouri, to be on