Bodega Norton is a wine estate in Mendoza, Argentina. It is most famous for its Malbec and Malbec-based red wines, including the dark fruit, spice and tobacco-laden Reserve Malbec, whose 2007 and 2010 vintages have previously made the annual Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines list. In 2006 the prestigious magazine nominated Norton as one of the top 20 wineries in the world, and it is often been ranked as Argentina's leading producer. The company makes an extensive portfolio of wines, organized into around a dozen different collections. The top cuvée is the rich, dense, dark and ageworthy Gernot Langes, named after the owner and selected from the best vineyard parcels. It is a Malbec-dominated blend with some Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, and is aged for 16 months in new French oak barrels. (© Copyright material, Wine-Searcher.com) Five estate-owned vineyards totalling around 1730 acres (700ha) are located in different terroirs around the Mendoza region. Norton has developed a complex program of precision viticulture dividing these large holdings into small plots and farming them on an individual basis. La Colonia in Lujan de Cuyo is the largest, giving ample room for future expansion, with 1100 acres (445ha) planted out of a total cultivatable area of 2580 acres (1045ha). Almost every grape variety grown in Argentina can be found on these five vineyards: as well as Malbec and Cabernet, Norton cultivates Chardonnay, Syrah, Torrontés and Sauvignon Blanc. The estate was founded in 1895 by Edmund Palmer Norton who, while constructing a railway from Mendoza to Chile, was impressed by the potential of the terrain for vineyards, and was prompted to import vines from France and devote the rest of his life to winemaking. Since 1989, it has been owned by Austrian Gernot Langes-Swarovski of the famous cut-crystal company. Norton is well known for its social responsibility and ecological programs and owns 108 houses for its workers. Additional brands owned by Norton include Lo Tengo and Vistaflor.