EWE25: Solving a Grape’s Identity: Using DNA or Ampelography? Norton or Cynthiana

As Eastern viticulture reemerged after Prohibition in the late 1960s, Norton and Cynthiana were mixed in vineyards and officially deemed as synonymous. -- Lucie Morton

With the return of the Norton and Cynthiana grapes post-prohibition in Missouri, Virginia, Arkansas (courtesy of Stone Hill Winery in Missouri, Horton Vineyards in Virginia, and Post Familie Vineyards in Arkansas) the common perception was that the two grapes were either clones or synonyms. Modern genetic data based on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP’s) could not distinguish Norton from Cynthiana as a phylogenetic tree constructed based on 1.2 million SNP’s could not differentiate Norton from Cynthiana.  

Yet, independent viticulturist Lucie Morton strongly disagrees that they are the same cultivar and by using Ampelography -- the study of a grape in terms of its historical record and physical characteristics in terms of leaf, cluster, berry and seed shape -- she asserts that the two grape varieties are completely different cultivars. At the 2025 Eastern Winery Exposition she presented this hypothesis through an analysis she conducted with Dean Volenberg (viticulture and winery operations specialist at the University of Missouri) and Diego Berrios Galaz - winemaker at Virginia's Casanel Vineyards. The results are also available in the March 2025 edition of Wine Business Monthly.  I sure wish this presentation or the companion article were available before my Norton seminar at the February BevFluence Chicago Speakeasy. The rest of this post merges information from the presentation and the Grape Sleuthing Through History WBM article. 

The Norton grape was born in the vineyard of Dr. Daniel Norton around 1820 when he tried to pollinate the Bland grape with Pinot Meunier. Instead a free-living V. aestivalis replaced the  Burgundian grape as the pollinator. Since the Bland and the V. aestivalis gapes had some labrusca and vinifera in their DNA, the Norton grape is comprised of various percentages of V. labrusca, V. vinifera, and V. aestivalis. 

Cynthiana was long thought to have originated in Arkansas, but Morton researched historical records that pinpoint the grapes origination in Red River, Ohio in the 1840s. At that time, Ohio was the leading grape growing region in the United States. The famed Prince Nursery in Flushing Long Island listed a variety called Red River in 1844 and in its 1858 catalogue changed the name to Cynthiana (Syn Red River). The Arkansas wine industry did not really take off until the 1870s. (Norton had been included in the Prince Nursery catalogue since 1822). 

In Missouri, George Hussmann (considered a father of the Missouri wine industry) received cuttings of both Norton and Cynthiana and in 1859 wrote, "The Cynthiana (Red River) originated in Ohio; in appearance it is very much like the former (Norton); makes, however a wine of a lighter color..."  And "U.P. Hedrick opined in The Grapes of New York (1908) that Norton and Cynthiana must be considered as distinct varieties." Thus, up until prohibition they were considered two separate grape varieties". 

After Prohibition, both Norton and Cynthiana survived thanks to a single vineyard outside of Hermann, Missouri. While searching to bring Norton back to Stone Hill Winery, Jim Held heard of the Rauch Vineyard which had been planted with Norton before the Civil War.  While visiting this vineyard a couple years ago and using  ampelographic methodology, Morton and Volenberg determined that the vines were a mixture of both Norton and Cynthiana. Morton has also used this approach to determine that the apparent Norton grown at Virginia's Burnley Vineyards is actually Cynthiana.  Detailed records showed that they had purchased the vines from Post Familie Vineyards in Arkansas. Morton repeated this exercise at Casanel Vineyards and with their team designated rows of both Norton and Cynthiana - which the winery had assumed was only Norton. And the Norton vines at both Horton Vineyards and Chrysalis Vineyards contains a mix of the Cynthiana vines that were found in the source vines from Horton via Hermann, Missouri. 

What are the ampelographic differences between Norton and Cynthiana?  The Norton leaf can resemble a "bat wing" through its lateral lobes and is longer than wider, thinner leaf veins, with triangular teeth. The Cynthiana leaf resembles a "spade-bit" through its lateral lobes and is wider than long, thicker leaf veins and round-based arches with tips for teeth. Its clusters contain larger and longer berries than Norton's and its smaller greener seeds cling to the pulp. Whereas with Norton, the seeds are larger and redder and do not cling to the pulp. See the companion image, but the last notable difference is that the dormant buds for Cynthiana are little triangles pointed to conical, whereas for Norton, they have a rounder base often compressed, obtuse to conical. See images below. 

 Images courtesy of Wine Business Monthly

Back to the EWE25 presentation, Lucie Morton, Diego Berrios Galaz & Dean Volenberg provided a fascinating presentation on this topic along with a first time historic opportunity to taste distinct and proven samples of Norton and Cynthiana. In 2023 Volenberg had separated and vinified Norton and Cynthiana wines from Stone Hill's Rauch Vineyard while Berrios Galaz distinctly vinified the Norton and Cynthiana grapes tagged by Morton and the Casanel team as described above for the 2024 vintage.  We tasted these wines blind and I preferred the 2023 Stone Hill Cynthiana followed by the 2023 Stone Hill Norton and 2024 Casanel Norton. Perhaps the extra year helped mature the wine. But in general the Cynthiana is considered to be lighter, less astringent with more raspberry than Norton's blackberry. In addition, the mocha flavors in "teenage" Nortons are not noticeable in Cynthiana. 

I hope to be able to report in the future whether more vineyards are using ampelographic methods to analysis their Norton vines and whether the labelling of Cynthiana increases if the evidence suggests. And look out for the upcoming film, Odyssey of Forbidden Wines, which follows Morton on her journey to repatriate the Cunningham grape back to its birthplace in Tidewater Virginia.