09/09/08 Botrytis

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran and today we are answering a question from a friend of mine who asked "What is a wine with botrytis and is it special?" What a great question! Stay tuned and we will answer it. So the question has come up  what is botrytis and what is so special about it. Well botrytis is a fungus. Although we would not necessarily become excited about a fungus on our wine grapes this can be an exception. You see in some growing years, when the weather is cooperating causing the onset of the fungus botrytis, it can lead to very exciting things! Botrytis nickname, when it is doing good things in the vineyard, is Noble Rot. When the weather has alternating moist conditions with warm sunny times it sort of slows the spread of the fungus and in a way controls it. If the grapes are ripe the fungus will feed on the water in the grape and dry it out leaving behind and concentrating the fruit, the acid and the sugar. The grapes have to be hand selected and the winemaking is difficult but well worth the effort. The resulting wines are what some describe as "nectar of the gods". The intense sweetness is so balanced with acid that it is rarely a cloying wine. This may create a reason to harvest the grapes later in the season when the weather is cooler, which also contributes to the character of the resulting wine. So there you have it that is what botrytis is and that is why it is so special. Listen in tomorrow as we discuss another sweet wine made only when the conditions are right. And thank you for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.