Customer Reviews

The Wild Vine: A Forgotten Grape and the Untold Story of American Wine

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3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When I ordered this book through the, ahem, Vine Program, I expected a rather straightforward story about the history of a little-known American grape, the Norton, and its inventor, Dr. Daniel Norton. To Todd Kliman's credit, he gives us that story and a whole lot more. We learn about the failed attempts over a 200 year period to make a decent wine in America. Mostly it was a failure because people wanted to make wine using European grapes. But grapes are sensitive and don't usually do well in areas they are not native to. So growing French or Italian or Spanish grapes in Virginia, say, didn't work out very well. The vines are attacked by diseases, besides the fact that the weather and soil are different. But when Daniel Norton tinkered with some native varieties and invented the Norton, he came up with a winner. When the wine made from the Norton was young it tasted good, and when it aged it tasted even better. The grape eventually made its way out to Missouri which, back in the middle 1800's, was THE winemaking capital of the United States. (Nothing against Missouri, but that fact knocked me out!) As Mr. Kliman explains, after the transcontinental railroad was built California took off as the winemaking hotspot of the country, as the product could then be shipped quickly and easily, and the California climate was admirably suited to growing European vinifera grapes. California eclipsed Missouri quite rapidly, and Prohibition in the early 20th century pretty much finished off winemaking in the East and Midwest, as federal agents dug up and destroyed the vines. (Come to think of it, Mr. Kliman doesn't explain why Prohibition didn't finish off California as a winemaking state, but I'm guessing that would be a long story and a good topic for a different book!) All of this was interesting enough, but Mr. Kliman also weaves in the fascinating story of Jenni McCloud, a self-made multimillionaire who entered the winemaking business late and who wants to rescue the Norton grape from the obscurity it has fallen into. Ms. McCloud feels that several native American grapes can make outstanding wines and she bucks the trend of most American winemakers who stick to using famous European grapes, such as Chardonnay and Merlot. Her attitude is, why be the millionth person to make a Chardonnay or Merlot? Why not try to make good wines from some different, native grapes that have proven in the past that with hard work and patience they can compete in quality with European varieties? Many winemakers are scared to do this, because they are afraid people won't accept something different. But perhaps it's possible that if people are given something different to try they might develop a taste for it. Raising the book to an even higher level is the personal odyssey of Jenni McCloud. I don't want to give anything away, but let's just say that completely disregarding the wine connection, her story is fascinating in-and-of-itself. The cherry on the whipped cream is the fact that Mr. Kliman writes wonderfully well. The prose is thoughtful, elegant and even beautiful in places. Sometimes you feel as though you are reading a really good novel, that's how fine the writing is. Highly recommended.

How many times have you come home from a long hard day at the office and said to yourself, "What I need right now is a thick, rare, grilled steak, a big refreshing green salad, a fresh baguette and a darned good bottle of _________"?

Fill in the blank, and you might have said "Cabernet," or "Pinot Noir" or "Syrah"; possibly "Chambolle-Musigny" or "Cote Rotie" or "Barolo"; or any one of a hundred things. What you probably did not say was "Norton's Virginia Seedling," or just "Norton." That's likely because you haven't even HEARD of "Norton," the grape developed by Daniel Norton in Virginia in the first half of the 19th century. I'm not sure I had heard of it either. If I had, I'd long since forgotten about it, and I sure as heck had not ever tasted the stuff, much less given it a lot of thought. I'm not alone in that regard. I pulled out my well worn copy of Jancis Robinson's "Vines, Grapes & Wines," an extensive review of wine grape varietals from all over the world. In Robinson's ampelographic universe, the Norton merits a glancing mention in a one paragraph laundry list of "other red hybrids grown in the United States and occasionally encountered as varietals." No wonder "Norton" is not even a blip on my radar screen.

This book will fill that gap in your wine education, as it did mine, in an entertaining way. It will take you from the early settlements in Jamestown to Jefferson at Monticello. From brooding, melancholic Daniel Norton, for whom the grape is named, to the productive and prosperous Missouri viticultural scene of the late 19th and early 20th centuries (founded in large part on cultivation of Norton vines), to the Prohibition era that drove a stake in Missouri's viticultural heart. And finally, to the modern revival of Norton cultivation, with a detour here for one winemaker's "sexual reassignment surgery," there for the author's ailing father and teething toddler, and there yet again to other parts hither and yon.

It's a bit of a roller coaster ride, but an interesting one. I'll have to find a good bottle or two of reasonably mature Norton and give the varietal a try.

The book is not without its flaws, and thus four rather than five stars. The firm hand of a strong willed editor might have been helpful. Kliman's prose can at times be as dense as a barrel sample of Cornas and every bit as rough hewn. There are occasional forays into over the top, almost comical melodrama. Convoluted, overlong sentences that should have been divided into two, three or even four simpler and more direct and declarative ones are not uncommon.

But no matter. The book is a more than worthwhile read. It is obviously a labor of love. It also appears to be well-researched and ends with a substantial bibiliography, should you be inclined to delve further into the history and modern culture of "Norton's Virginia Seedling."

I say go for it.

Is there such a thing as American wine from an American grape? Sure, the United States has its share of wineries; California, Oregon, Washington all produce excellent wines, equalling or surpassing their European counterparts. However, what they are growing are European grapes in America. Does America have a grape that is "native" and can produce a well regarded, drinkable wine? Actually, we do and we can. For example, Catawba. However, there is another grape that deserves attention, Norton.

You can be forgiven if you have never heard of the Norton grape. But if you live in Virginia or Missouri and do not know of this grape, I am saddened and disappointed. It is a part of your state's history. In fact, Missouri has designated the Norton as the State Grape.

The Norton takes center stage in Todd Kliman's The Wild Vine: A Forgotten Grape and the Untold Story of American Wine. Tracing the history of winemaking in the United States, Kliman takes the reader back in time to the time of the Jamestown settlers. One of their missions was to establish vineyards in the New World. Plantings of European vines were not suited to the climate, soil, or diseases of the new land and the efforts were in vain. However, that did not stop the settlers or those that arrived after them. Thomas Jefferson, who loved European wines, even tried his hand at growing grapes, but those efforts ended in failure. A contemporary of Jefferson, Dr. Daniel Norton, creates a hybrid grape that withstands the harsh climate and produces a very good, drinkable wine. Dr. Norton has succeeded where so many before him, even the learned Jefferson, have failed.

Dr. Norton's grape is added to the premier seed catalog of the time, where it is picked up by German immigrants in Missouri. An entire town, an entire industry is based on the Norton grape, which results in Missouri becoming the United States' leading producer of wine. Until the opening of the Transcontinental Railroad, which allowed California to become the top producer of wine. Then came Prohibition, which destroyed Missouri winemaking. At that point, the Norton disappears.

Interspersed with the history of the Norton grape in The Wild Vine, Kliman introduces Jenni McCloud, a Virginia winemaker whose life's mission is to educate the wine drinking public about the Norton and to return it to its rightful place at the top of American wines. Jenni is an excellent addition to the narrative, she is passionate, driven, eloquent, and, at times, vulgar. She is a woman not afraid of "conventional wisdom" or the work required to bring the gift of wine from the Norton. It is work that not many vintners are willing to tackle for many reasons. Ms. McCloud is a person with an attitude well suited for the Norton; unlike other wineries in America, she wants her Chrysalis Vineyard to produce the world's best Norton wines, not the 300th best Chardonnay, Cabernet or Merlot.

A thoughtful, well researched, thoroughly entertaining chronical on the Norton, Todd Kliman's The Wild Vine: A Forgotten Grape and the Untold Story of American Wine will introduce you to the history of a truly American grape, fascinating, interesting characters, and a new appreciation for wine, especially the Norton. It is a book that should be read by all wine lovers, it is an eye opening look at America and its rich, but brief (as compared to France, for example) history of viticulture. For all students of history, it reveals a little known, but very interesting, chapter in American history. Kliman's writing style will make you forget that you are reading a "history" book, it is more like a work from a popular mystery writer. It moves quickly, from the past to present day, making important and engaging stops along the way. Further, he provides the reader with fascinating, engaging, and delightful characters, which creates a much more intriguing tale. The Wild Vine is a book not to be passed over like some $5 bottle of wine. This is a thoughtful, complex, and pleasing book that will remain on your palate long after turning the last page.

Jenni McCloud has much more work to do, but she has converted this wine lover into a Norton proponent, even though I have not had the pleasure of experiencing a Norton wine. However, while I am attempting to correct that, it will not be easy. I called a very good, local wine shop shortly after finishing the early chapters, to acquire a Norton. "I'd like a wine from Virginia," I said. "I didn't know that Virginia had wineries," was the reply. I decided to take another tact. "I'd like a wine made from the Norton grape." "What's that?" came the response. Not to be easily dissuaded, I will patiently wait for them to locate and procure a few bottles. What I cannot wait for is to unleash the Norton on my unsuspecting friends. And to entertain them with the history contained within the bottle. A history not like any other vine.

Disclosure:

Obtained from: Amazon Vine Review Program

Payment: Free

This well-researched page-turner tells the fascinating story of the rise, fall, and hoped-for resurgence of a little known and quirky grape hybrid invented in America, and the courageous industry outsiders who committed heart and soul and chose the road less travelled to take up its cause.

A Washingtonian wine and food critic, Todd Kliman takes us with him to a 200 year historical journey, starting with the hybrid's invention in the 1820s by a childless and widowed Richmond Virginia doctor, Daniel Norton, who took up horticulture to escape loneliness; to the Norton grape's migration to Missouri, where German immigrants overcame their viticulture inexperience to produce wine that won top awards in prestigious international events; to the grape's slippage into relative obscurity resulting from several factors, including the supplanting of Missouri by California as the nation's premier wine-making state, the ascendant vintners' favoring of other varietals over the Norton for various reasons, and the destruction of Missouri vineyards during Prohibition; to modern day efforts, begun in the 1960's, to re-establish the competitiveness of the Norton as a fine wine-making varietal, bringing back the story full-circle to Virginia in recent years.

The enthralling narrative makes us appreciate the odds (e.g., lack of wine-making experience, prevailing attitudes towards a varietal's current cachet, unique challenges involved in harnessing the Norton for wine-making, etc.) working against the Norton's champions -- all of whom started out as industry outsiders, then went on to attain some measure of success -- at each turn in the Norton's history. We come to admire the champions' courage for breaking from the pack to pour heart and soul into a cause they believe in, making themselves the crucial links for the Norton's past, present, and future. This is especially true for the Norton's latest and most audacious champion, Jenni McCloud, a self-made millionaire whose life story is told by Kliman with verve and is by itself an interesting tale.

When Europeans came to America they were thrilled to discover thriving native grape varietals. Unfortunately, they didn't produce very good quality wine - too foxy tasting. No less than Thomas Jefferson continued the quest for an American wine grape his whole life, and failed.

Dr. Daniel Norton, however, in the 1820s discovered a hybrid grape that did produce fine wine. This book is a very detailed history of the only native American grape that produces premium quality wine, the Norton. Today Norton wine is still far overshadowed by European varietals. Norton is grown and use for wine most successfully in Virginia and Missouri. This book traces the history of Norton in Virginia chronicles two of the largest Norton producers, Chrysalis Vineyards and Horton Vineyards.

To try Norton for myself, on a recent visit to Virginia, I looked for a bottle. After visited 3 wine shops who acted as if they had never heard of the Norton grape, I found two different brands at a supermarket. It was dark, robust with deep fruit flavors and medium acidity. It reminded me of more obscure Southern Italian red varietals.

So, find a bottle of Norton and pair it with this book and judge this wine grape for yourself.

I enjoyed the heck out of this book. It was recommended as book for someone who liked wine and liked history. Check. What I was not necessarily expecting was a well-done, conversational journey through 400 years of wine and America: not "in America", "and America".

I was surprised to learn that in addition to God, gold, guns and glory, there was an additional "G" of colonization: grapes. Every visitor to Monticello gets an earful of Thomas Jefferson and how he brought wine to Virginia. They never tell you how much of a failure he was at it, how profoundly it affected his self-esteem and pocketbook, and how broadly it influence those in the following generation who succeeded.

All this background to the real story of The Wild Vine is woven into a personal story of discovery by the author who brings us to the present day story of American Wine. As with most history well written, we find that the complete story is a lot more complicated, nuanced and more interesting than the quick-hits we usually get. We find in the book that the land, the grape and time (or is it 'the times') make a wine, and in fact, make for a excellent history of "A Forgotten Grape and the Untold Story of American Wine".

The Wild Vine is a book that reinforces interest and exposure to a truly American wine. An exceptional approach to a specific course of American immigration history and future Southeastern and mid-western grape possibilities. The read advances many American social and cultural attitudes that will help us all propel ourselves into the 21st century. The Wild Vine is a compilation of bright, brave, and insightful personalities, to include its author, Todd Kliman. He lets the book roll along forcefully, just as the Norton grapes grow in the fields, taking their time to develop and letting the written end product mature into a wonderful understanding of where we are at this time in the production of the real American wine. Understandably there is concern of enjoying the book without having the option to taste the wine. Though there are now 184 vineyards producing Norton wine in 22 states, access to these wines are somewhat restricted. In a majority of the cases, Norton wine examples can be shipped to many states today. Examples of good Norton wines by state locations that maybe able to ship are: White Oaks (AL); Three Sisters (GA); Elk Creek (KY); Stone Mountain Cellars (PA); Century Farms (TN), Blumenhof, Heinrichshaus, Adam Pushta, Montelle Vineyards who has great case discount prices, Robller, & Stonehill's Cross J (MO), and Cooper or Chrysalis (VA). After shipment arrives, let the bottles settle down for several days from the trip, and make sure that you let the wine breathe for no less than 30 minutes. Now you have the best of both worlds, ~ a great book and a very enjoyable acquired taste American wine.

Disclaimer: I am a winemaker in California (Lionheart Wines) and I got the book through Vine program.

"The Wild Vine" is best described as a biography of the Norton grape. Norton is a hybrid produced by Dr. Daniel Norberne Norton M.D. after many years of experimenting with hybridization. The reason why this grape has importance is that it is the first true successful American grape that produced fruit which makes good table wine and is disease resistant. Dr. Norton succeed where people for 150 years failed before him including Thomas Jefferson.

The book give you a very detailed history of Dr. Norton, his efforts to make a grape that would produce good table wine and the history of the grape up to today. The history of wine in America is rather varied with many false starts and stops. Prohibition nearly destroyed the wine industry in the US completely. The author, Todd Kliman, clearly has done an amazing amount of research for this book. The history is clearly connected from Dr. Norton (200 years ago) to the modern state of Norton in America. The research effort really helps make this a compelling story -- excellent notes about society at different points in time and how that affected the fate of the Norton grape.

The Norton grape has had a much harder time then many other grape varieties. I found it very interesting how a grape that could produce excellent quality wine was not paid more attention historically. As a winemaker, I agree with a concept that Jenni McCloud (the modern Norton avangelist) points out -- why would I go through all the effort and cost to make wine that is nearly the same as someone else? The value in a grape like Norton is that has a true sense of terroir (local character). It is very important to be distinctive to be successful in the wine industry.

I found the book to be a very interesting read from a US historical perspective as well as a wine historical one. The wine industry is a very complex and interesting one. The book helps to show the complexity and how the industry can be effected by fickleness of the public/consumers.

I have tried several Nortons over the years. I have found them to be interesting but I am not sure if they come up to the quality claimed by some. The book does make me want to seek out some of the newer wines to give them a try as the Grape does sound like it could be rather interesting and enjoyable!

I do have a few issues with the book:

1) Overall, the writing style is very effective. But, the descriptions do get a bit flowery and thick at points. There is a strong romantic/involved point of view from the author. He does admit that he has been a bit obsessed with the Norton grape and its past.

2) The classification of wine made in California seems like a sterotypical view point that I have heard from people on the East Coast and Europeans. California has a little bit of everything going on and constantly evolving as new research and techniques are discovered. I would agree that California wine does tend to be made in more of a "cocktail" style (alcoholic, sweet, high pH and not very ageworthy). However, there are a large number of wineries which make excellent balanced wines more in the European style (Old World). There is something for everyone.

3) The mixing in of the changes/hardships of Jenni McCloud is interesting but I think the analogy between her and the Norton grape is over done. Jenni is clearly a maverick and force to be reckoned with; there is no reason to overstate things related to her. She speaks very well for herself.

As Europeans began to colonize the new world they, of course, wanted wine. There was no shortage of grapes; the Norse, after all, had called it Vinland. (Although some dispute that they were referring to grapes.) But the native grapes made poor wine, and the wine grapes (Vitis vinifera) they brought from Europe grew poorly, if at all. The eventual solution was to graft vinifera vines onto native rootstock, which led to vines that could survive the climate and produce wine grapes. (At least to the extent that the particular variety could ripen in the local climate.)

Prior to that solution, however, many, including Thomas Jefferson, tried to find or breed native grapes that would make acceptable wine. Dr Daniel Norton (who also explored grafting) found and promoted the grape now known as "Norton", likely a cross between native grapes and vinifera. (The "Cynthiana" grape is the same grape or a very close relative.) Starting in the 1830s it became the dominant wine grape in the eastern and midwestern parts of the country, notably in Missouri and Virginia. In 1873 a Norton wine won a gold medal in Vienna, and the grape seemed to have a bright future. But Prohibition led to its near disappearance, and the post-Prohibition recovery of the wine industry was based on vinifera grapes. Only recently has there been something of a resurgence for Norton.

This book is written in the (currently popular) form of a memoir of the author learning the history. While I prefer the traditional approach to relating history, this author succeeds better with the memoir approach than many, avoiding the self-indulgence of making himself the center of the story. He travels to wineries in Virginia and Missouri, and researches the story in museums and libraries, laying out both the history and the current state of the grape.

I have enough familiarity with viticulture and winemaking to believe he has the measure of the subject. I also have a couple of quibbles.

Early on he asserts: "Few businesses are more paternalistic, more rooted in tradition, in habit, than winemaking, a livelihood that is typically handed down through the generations, and most often from father to son. Women are scarce; outsiders, even scarcer. New ideas are generally anathema." Out here in California women are very prominent in the wine industry; the winemakers at two of my favorite wineries are women. And there are places in California where it's hard to turn around without bumping into an outsider who has set up a winery. Many modern wineries experiment with new ideas. Kliman's assertions completely fail to capture the reality of the twenty-first century global wine industry. He intends these assertions as a set-up to the story of Norton vintner Jenni McCloud, but she's a larger-than-life figure who doesn't need it.

Later in the book he takes on California wines with high alcohol levels, a legitimate issue (and related to the ease with which grapes ripen in California, leading to a lot of sugar that ferments into a lot of alcohol). But I was put off by his analogy with Shaquille O'Neal. Although not a basketball fan, living in southern California I know more about Shaq than I really care to; the analogy, however, may be lost on many wine lovers. He also seems unaware that many California wineries are working to bring down the alcohol levels in their wines to improve balance. Virtue in winemaking is not confined to Virginia.

One thing I was not able to do was actually try a Norton wine for this review. None of my normal sources carry a Norton wine, and I didn't want to hold up the review to get one from Missouri or Virginia. So I offer no opinion on whether the Norton grape really has a future in the wine industry. Maybe I'll be able to try one on my next trip to Virginia.

While not a great book, it will be of interest to people with an interest in wine and the history of American wine. If the subject sounds interesting you will probably enjoy the book.

The other title for this review could be "Off the Beaten Path of the Weinstrasse (Wine Road)". Ted Kliman, the food and wine editor and restaurant critic of "The Washingtonian" provides an entertaining, informative, highly sleuth-like, and captivating book filled with amazing facts and research about a nearly forgotten piece of American history, a nearly lost piece of history, the origin and discovery of the native American grape called "the Norton". While in the 20th and 21st centuries the Wine Road leads to Napa Valley and California that was not the case in the 19th Century or prior to that. The author provides a roller coaster of a ride about the ups and downs and twists and turns in the history of this most amazing discovery or perhaps more accurately it was creation through hybridization by Dr. Daniel Norton in the early 1820s, along with the chance of nature's help via pollination by bees.

Dr. D. Norton recognized the importance of his discovery and sent a description and cuttings to the foremost authority on horticulture in the United States, William Prince, Jr, the third generation owner of the famous Linnaeus Botanical Gardens and Nurseries of Flushing, New York. Prince recognized the importance of this finding and listed it in his catalog in 1822 as "Norton's Virginia Seedling." Dr. Norton scored another coup in 1830 when the Princes favorably mentioned it in their book "A Treatiste on the Vine". They gave Dr. Norton full credit and called the grape "Vitis Nortoni, in the professional nomenclature of science. Despite these successes, nearly twenty years after Dr. D. Norton died, F.W. Lemosy, son of Dr. F.A. Lemosy an aquaintance of Dr. Norton added doubts to who really discovered this grape. He claimed, Norton was visiting Cedar Island and from there had taken cuttings of wild grapes to his farm with the intent of cultivating the grape to produce wine. According to Lemosy, Norton had more interest in the grape than anyone else, therefore the wild grape began to be called the Norton grape. This is how the controversy surrounding this grape began ... and it continued into modern times.

During Prohibition the Norton grape was nearly extinct except for the some backwoods moonshiners who kept making wine from it. Most notably, wine production in the United States in the 19th century was centered in the state of Missouri which in 1870 produced the most wine in the USA. To this effect, the Poechel and Scherer Vineyards in Hermann, Missouri had sent wine to an exhibit in Vienna in 1873 which was being judged by wine experts from all over Europe. At this exhibit, the wine produced from the Norton grape was dubbed one of the finest red wines and one judge in particular, Henry Vizetelly, considered a foremost wine expert, was particularly impressed. In fact, based on the Norton he predicted that Missouri was " ' destined to become ... one of the great wine-producing regions of the world.' " Next Poeschel and Scherer won a medal in 1878 in Paris at the Universal Exhibition where Henry Vizetelly was also a judge. The Norton continued to win honors, when the Monticello Wine Company received a silver medal in Paris in 1873 and two first class medals at a wine exhibition in New Orlesns in 1884-1185 for a Norton wine, labelled as "Virginia Claret". So continues the up and down story about this most unique American grape ...

What is very appealing about this book, besides the subject matter being wine, is how the author mixes historical research along with stories of his visits to Chrysallis Vineyards, owned by Jenni McCloud in Middleburg, Virginia, who is currently the foremost authority and producer of this extraordinairy wine in that state. The Norton grape had returned to the state where it orginated! He weaves historical facts about wine production in the fledgling British colony of Jamestown and fascinating facts about how Thomas Jefferson who developed a taste for wine and educated himself from 1784 - 1789, with visits to French vineyards when he was the American envoy to that country. The author also writes about his visits to modern day Hermann, Missouri to learn about its historical wine production by German immigrants who came in the 1820s - 1850s and how it currently fares in relation to wine production. The report regarding wine production in the state of Missouri is highly positive: with Stone Hill Vineyards and Mount Pleasant Vineyards being two well known producers who revived the Norton grape and wine production from it. Amazingly enough, in modern times, a new question arose about the Norton grape, about its similarity or distinction from Cynthiana, another native varietal first discovered in Arkansas. The Cynthiana also produces another very excellent drinkable wine. I will leave it to the reader to discover what conclusion the scientists from Southwest Missouri State University and Cornell University arrived at regarding this question. As an aside, after reading 30 - 40 pages of this book, I had to open a bottle of wine, the closest thing I had resembling the Norton grape was "Lucky Duck" brand Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile. Needless to say, having a glass of this wine greatly enhanced my enjoyment of this book. Of course, I would have preferred to be drinking a glass of Norton wine which I hope to discover and enjoy for myself one day soon. Erika Borsos [pepper flower]