Producer | Westphalia Vineyards |
Country | United States |
Region | Missouri |
Subregion | Westphalia |
Varietal | Norton |
Sku | 810385010132 |
Size | 750ml |
Popping a ripe berry into your mouth and chewing with contemplation produces the wonderful taste of other ripe deep-purple grapes, with that particular Norton twang of earthiness and tart herbaceousness. Fermentation is fast and furious (but we keep the fermentation area cool by cranking up the air conditioning), and a foxiness seems to enter into the palette of flavors and aromas. Pumping into our Missouri white oak barrels with more fermentation to go, the wine’s youth causes a pucker, although the color is deep. A mid-winter sampling shows the tartness diminishing and things coming into balance. On bottling, a sample carefully considered delights with harshness gone, replaced with a balanced dryness acting as a foil for deep leather, coffee, and Norton (no other adjective will suffice) flavors.