06/27/05 Monday question - dry grapes

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran and today we are answering questions from our email. Recently a listener named Jonathan wrote to ask "We had a wine that was said to be made from dried grapes. Why would they dry the grapes?" Since the listener wasn't specific about which wine he drank I will address the making of wine from dried grapes in general. There are not many wines that are made with dried grapes but of the ones that are, they are of a special style or category of wine. Many of them are from Italy or France or other European wine regions. When you dry grapes you reduce their water content which greatly increases their sugar content. This concentration of sugar can result in a sweet wine or a wine with a higher alcohol content. Historically this made the wines more stable and they would last longer. But as I said many there are wines that are still made today by employing some degree of dried grapes. This can also occur naturally when conditions are right grapes left on the vine after the main harvest may become infected by a fungus called botrytis which draws the water from the grapes and they become shriveled and dehydrated. It favorably effects grapes like Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Semillon and Gewurztraminer. Thanks for a great question. Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at vine to wine dot net and thanks for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.