Story behind the art of Janet Vetter
Botanical Art Worldwide 2025-A More Abundant Future:
Diversity in Garden, Farm, and Field
American Society of Botanical Artists at the Foundry Art Centre, St. Charles, MO
Norton Legacy Grapes
Vitis aestivalis 'Norton'
When I learned of the theme for Botanical Art Worldwide 2025, I knew immediately what my subject would be: the Norton grape. The Norton is an American wine grape with a great American story, and I’m glad to be able to tell it through this exhibition.
In 2003, the Norton became the official state grape of Missouri but was originally introduced to Missouri from Virginia in the mid-1800s. In the early 1800s, Dr. Daniel Norton was experimenting with grape cultivation and breeding. Circa 1820, he created this variety on his Virginia farm by pollinating a Bland grape with what he thought was Pinot Meunier, but the “father” was actually a nearby wild Vitis aestivalis vine.
The Norton’s Virginia seedling first appeared in the William Prince nursery catalog in 1822. By the 1840s, German immigrants had established vineyards and wineries along the Missouri River, growing native varietals including the introduced Norton. This region was known as the Missouri Rhineland. In 1873, Stone Hill Winery’s Norton wine from Hermann, Missouri, was declared the “Best Red Wine of All Nations” at the Vienna World’s Fair. Missouri was the second largest wine producing state in the US until Prohibition brought an end to the industry. Beginning in the 1970s, wine production in Missouri experienced a rebirth and the Norton is again a signature varietal in the region.
My challenge with this project is that I no longer live in Missouri, and I had no reference photographs of the Norton. I wanted to paint the grapes at harvest, but there was no way to photograph them myself within the timeframe of the call for entry. I contacted the University of Missouri Grape & Wine Institute and - with their collaboration - the project was underway!
American grape varieties have various leaf shapes, even on the same vine, from shallow to deeply lobed with rounded sinuses. Some of the distinguishing features of the Norton grape are the U-based, overlapping petiolar sinuses and the “bat wing” superior lateral lobes. My painting includes these features along with other leaf shapes found on Norton vines. The painting is watercolor on paper; however, I used colored pencil to depict the deep blue-black color where the bloom has been brushed away on individual grapes in the clusters.
-----
A special thanks to Dr. Dean Volenberg of the University of Missouri Grape & Wine Institute and Lucie Morton, viticulturist, for many Norton reference photos and their support and enthusiasm for this project. Additional thanks to the Missouri Wine and Grape Board for other reference photographs. A photo by Don Kasak (originally posted to Flickr as Chaumette Winery) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons was also used.
Next Story
Back to List