Wine Tasting at Norton Winery

Mendoza wineries come in all sizes – from small family projects without even a street sign to mark the front door, to international heavyweights that attract flocks of wine lovers and international accolades.  Norton Winery certainly falls into the second category.  This Luján de Cuyo winery is arguably the most famous Argentine winery and offers world-renowned wines and a rather unique twist on the traditional wine tasting.

Brief History of Bodega Norton

In the late 1800s, Sir Edmund James Palmer Norton left his European roots and came to South America to lend his skills to the construction of the railway connecting Mendoza and Chile.  A few years later, in 1895 he applied his engineering background to a new frontier: winemaking.  That same year he founded his first winery in Perdriel, in the Luján de Cuyo region.  Forty-nine years later, Sir Norton passed away and his dream was handed off to Australian businessman, Gernot Langes Swarovski, of Swarovski Crystals.  Today, Bodega Norton is an internationally recognized brand and a forerunner in the quest to produce and share the best possible wines of Mendoza with wine drinkers around the world.

Norton Winery Profile

Norton Winery is located in the Perdriel region of Luján de Cuyo.  This industrial size winery produces nearly 25 million L. annually and contains 7000 oak barrels (95% French Oak and 5% American), all tucked beneath a dome roof made of recycle oak staves.

Norton owns over 600 hectares and five vineyards, spread across Mendoza wine country.  In the Perdriel region of Luján de Cuyo, 100 hectares of vines wrap around the winery and forms part of the winery’s gorgeous landscape and expansive grounds.  The four additional vineyards are located in La Colonia, Agrelo, Lunlunta, and Medrano.  Though the average age of Norton wines is 30 years old, vineyards in the Lunlunta region contain vines that are nearly a century old, which dedicate their high quality yields exclusively to the production of Norton’s premium wines.

Nearly 50% of Norton’s production is exported and travels to over 60 countries including Canada, the United States, Brazil, and Holland, where wine lovers eagerly await with corkscrews in hand.  The rest is sold in Argentina, or enjoyed by those who knock on Norton’s door, hoping to enjoy a tour and a taste at the winery chosen as “2011 New World Winery of the Year” by Wine Enthusiast Magazine.

Wine Tasting at Bodega Norton

Known as “Creciendo Junto al Vino,” (Growing up with the wine), Norton offers a unique twist on the traditional wine flight tasting.  As visitors are guided through the winery, they are simultaneously led through a tasting of the same wine (Norton Malbec Reserve) at three different stages in its production process.

The first wine is taken straight from the stainless steel fermentation tank.  Several days before, this 2013 Malbec Reserve – the youngster of the winery’s portfolio – finished fermentation, and now sat waiting to be racked off its sediment and into French oak barrels.  Strikingly acidic, metallic tasting, and a nearly hollow body, the wine was clearly “half baked.”

The second tasting came straight from the barrel.  This wine had been aged for 6 months of its projected 12 month stay in French oak.  On the palate it was much less acidic, rounder, more balanced, and much more expressive – with aromas of fruit and toast beginning to come alive.

The third and final tasting came straight from a finished bottle of Malbec Reserve.   After the 12 months in oak, the wine is left 10 months in the bottle to get its act together – and that is exactly what it does.  Full of ripe blackberry and plum fruit, it is accented with subtle notes of violets and vanilla.  What was once an angular wine, disjointed and fleeting, had suddenly become a rich mouthful of lush red fruit and notes of toast that extend into a long, elegant finish.

Though Norton offers a variety of tasting menu options, “Creciendo Junto al Vino” is a chance to really appreciate how a wine develops over time.  Wine lovers learn, the virtue of oak aging, the value of the wait, experience firsthand how a wine wakes up over time.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Our team of highly passionate, skilled trip planners wants to get to know you so we can construct the perfect getaway.  We pull from our large network of local winemakers, adventurers, chefs, artists and more to introduce you to a side of Mendoza, Argentina that you won’t see with any other tour agency.

Ready to get started?  Tell us who you are and what you love – and we’ll use that to build your perfect trip!  Click here to get started!