Missouri has a long history of grape and wine production, mostly due to Germans who settled in Hermann and other communities starting in 1837. In the 1870s, when French vineyards were being devastated by the root louse phylloxera, Missouri sent large amounts of resistant rootstock to help save that industry. Before Prohibition, Missouri was the second-largest wine-producing state in the country.
The state’s industry really started to grow when, in the 1980s, a new tax on all wines was imposed and earmarked to help promote the industry in various ways. In 2003, the state government made Norton/Cynthiana the official grape, creating the Missouri Wine & Grape Board in 2005. A year later the Institute for Continental Climate Viticulture & Enology was created and housed at the University of Missouri – Columbia.
Missouri boasts the nation’s first American Viticultural Area (AVA): Augusta, designated in 1980 and since joined by the Ozark Highlands, Ozark Mountains, and Loess Hills.
Great Grapes: Norton
A member of the vitis aestivalis family, Norton is native to the United States, widely planted in a few regions, and is the official grape of Missouri. Sometimes labeled Cynthiana, the dark-skinned grapes produce a robust, deep red wine, sometimes with coffee and spice-like aromas and flavors, and has been very popular in wine competitions for decades.
