Norton Privada 2007 - A heads up tasting note

Norton Privada 2007 – This wine is in the May 14th Vintages release. This truly is a tale of two wines. The 2007 Norton Privada received 91 points from the Wine Spectator. BP has had 4 bottles of this wine in the last 6 months and it has received 92, 72 (and 84) and 80 and 78 points from me. Two versions were procured from the BCLDB, and two from the SAQ. The first bottle was what drove me to buy a quartet from the SAQ. It was spectacular.



Eyes closed, this first bottle could have been mistaken for a $60 Napa Meritage. It displayed amazing fruit, tannins, currants, blackberry, cherry, licorice, a bit of smoke, all playing in concert together on both the nose and palate. A wonderful wine – popped and poured - the first glass had it in my Top 50 wines of the year last year. I thoroughly enjoyed the bottle last November. There’s my 92 pointer.


Now on to the SAQ version purchased during our New Year’s visit to the outlaws. No nose to speak of, tight, mouth dryingly astringent, with a chemical taste to it. What fruit there was lay concealed beneath a layer of harsh tannins. Both bottles were served with the same meal, a rib roast of pork, but the difference between them was startling especially after the buildup I had given it! My wife, who generally loves whatever I bring to the table, bluntly said, “This isn’t doing it for me” and stopped at one unfinished glass. Unheard of in our household. I did the same. But I also thought I had to give this bad boy a second chance, mostly because I brought 4 bottles home from Quebec based on the BC bottle! I corked it and put it in the fridge. 20 hours later it was released from its frigid purgatory and uncorked again to warm on the counter. A bottle of 2005 Chateauneuf du Pape was opened and decanted beside it to provide the Privada with an idea of what was expected of garnet coloured fluids in my house. How was it day two? Better after 21 hours and even better by the 23 hour mark. The fruit was beginning to make an appearance, the tannins softening and that chemical taste fading. But I think it might have needed another 24 hours and even then it would never really shine in the way the first BC bottle had right out of the gate. There’s the 72 and 84 pointer.


Recently I was back to BC and tried another bottle while there and upon returning home, I also opened another of my SAQ stash. This time around, the BC bottle seemed to be suffering from the same affliction that cursed the first of the SAQ bottles. Fruit was absent, dry, dry tannins, a chemical aftertaste, all in all a real disappointment. Opening the second SAQ bottle at home, I found it slightly better than the first after resting in the cellar for a few more weeks but still nowhere near that benchmark first bottle. There’s my 80 (SAQ) and 78 (BCLDB) pointers.


So, what’s the scoop? Has the wine just entered a developmental dumb phase? Were the bottles from two different lots that were not equal fruit wise? Was it just not as well made or was there another serious flaw in the wine or the process? Regardless, it’s spoiling Norton’s reputation. Will my last two bottles come out of this funk? Time will tell. This wine is in the May 14 release so I’ll be opening one a few days before that release to see what state it’s in. If the Privada in the LCBO release is like the first BC version and you live outside of the GTA, you should have special ordered in April because it’ll fly off the shelves and be gone. On the other hand, if we get something like the second BC bottle or any of the Quebec ones, it will be panned or ignored by anyone who tastes it. The LCBO will sell out of it but only due to the 91 point label I’m sure it’ll be wearing.