Norton Privada Family Blend 2023

Privada has long been one of Bodega Norton's most well known wines and, rather than just being a straight Malbec it's a blend with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon with the grapes coming from old vines between 50 and 80 years of age. It's aged for 16 months in French oak barrels which gives a smooth, velvety character that balances the full body very well. It has rich aromas of dark berry fruits and a great concentration of ripe fruit flavours with a touch of smoke and coffee. Nicely complex with a good structure and grippy tannins that lead to the lengthy finish.

Rich, smooth and elegant it's just great alongside robust barbecued meats like a rib-eye steak.

An English engineer, Edmund Norton, who planted the first French vines in Luján de Cuyo in 1895 was the founder of Bodega Norton and was one of the pioneers of viticulture in Mendoza. More recently in 1989 the estate was purchased by Austrian businessman Gernot Langes-Swarovski who made a major investment in the estate and alongside his son Michael Halstrick, the current CEO, set about transforming it into the world-renowned winery that it is today. The winemaking team is headed up by David Bonomi who started out at Norton in 2002 before broadening out his experience at other notable wineries in Mendoza before returning in 2014 as the company's chief winemaker. His skill in making the best of the region's terroir and matching it to the potential of Malbec and the other main grape varieties of the area has earned him international recognition in the shape of awards from the likes of Decanter Magazine.