Noble rot

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the fungus. For the heavy metal music album, see The Noble Rot.
Noble rot on Riesling grapes (Rheingau, Germany, 2005)

Noble rot (French: pourriture noble; German: Edelfäule; Italian: Muffa nobile; Hungarian: Aszúsodás) is the beneficial form of a grey fungus, Botrytis cinerea, affecting wine grapes. Infestation by Botrytis requires moist conditions, but if the weather stays wet, the damaging form, "grey rot", can destroy crops of grapes. Grapes typically become infected with Botrytis when they are ripe. If they are then exposed to drier conditions and become partially raisined, this form of infection is known as noble rot. Grapes picked at a certain point during infestation can produce particularly fine and concentrated sweet wine. Wines produced by this method are known as botrytized wines.

Origins

According to Hungarian legend, the first

Tokaj region, one of the gradings given to the various terroirs
centered on their potential to develop Botrytis cinerea.

There is a popular story that the practice originated independently in

Eiswein in 1858 (although Eiswein is usually made from grapes not affected by Botrytis).[3]

Viticulture and uses

Botrytis cinerea on Semillon grapes in Sauternes

In some cases, inoculation occurs when spores of the fungus are sprayed over the grapes, while some vineyards depend on natural inoculation from spores present in the environment.

The fungus perforates the grapes' skin, allowing water in the grape to evaporate during dry conditions, and thereby raising the sugar concentration in the remaining juice.

Some of the finest botrytized wines are picked berry by berry in successive tris (French for "selections").

Internationally renowned botrytized wines include the

Tokaj-Hegyalja in Hungary/Slovakia (commonly called Tokaji or Tokay), Sauternes from France – where the process is known as pourriture or pourriture noble, and Beerenauslese or Trockenbeerenauslese wines from Germany and Austria. Other wines of this type include the Romanian Grasă de Cotnari, French Coteaux du Layon, French Monbazillac, Austrian Ausbruch and South African Noble Late Harvest (NLH). Depending on conditions, the grapes may be only minimally botrytized. Botrytis has also been imported for use by winemakers in California and Australia
.

References

  1. ^ A Short History of Riesling
  2. ISBN 1-56305-434-5
  3. ^ "A History of Schloss Johannisberg". Archived from the original on 2012-03-04. Retrieved 2010-03-25.

External links

Look up noble rot in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Noble rot.


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