Why there’s some rot you don’t want to stop
Rarely is the term “rot” a good thing when it comes to food. Cheese is the obvious exception, while dry-aged beef and fermented foods such as miso and sauerkraut also prove that mould can be tasty.
Similarly, rotten grapes are typically discarded in the vineyard or removed on a sorting table rather than given the green light for the wine press. But if this were the case for all grapes, we would never have wines such as Chateau d’Yquem, the flagship Sauternes from France, or Eszencia, the world’s sweetest wine which hails from Hungary and is so viscous that it served by the teaspoon (crystal is recommended rather than metal so as not to react with the wine).
Rather than the myriad sour, grey and black rots, all of which foul a grape’s flavour, “noble” rot, or botrytis, enhances it by piercing the grape’s skin, causing water to evaporate. The infected grape shrivels like a raisin, concentrating its sweet, juicy flavour. As a result, many more grapes are needed to produce one bottle of botrytised wine than regular still wine. In addition, the selection of the grapes to ensure no “bad” rot is included with the ‘“noble” rot requires much more meticulous human labour. Add to this that in certain vintages, Mother Nature does not provide the wet weather followed by drying winds which promote botrytis, such as in 2012 in Sauternes, when top chateaux such as d’Yquem and Rieussec decided not to produce any of their flagship wine.
It’s safe to say rot isn’t cheap, either. One half bottle (37.5cl) of Ch d’Yquem’s 2001 vintage, which scored 100/100 points from top Bordeaux critic, Robert Parker, retails for over £200. Hungary’s Eszencia, which is the pinnacle of their botrytised wines, can be even more eye-watering in price.
Royal Tokaji’s 2007 Eszencia, rated 99-100 points by Parker, retails for over £300 per half bottle.
While there are many regions which produce a late-harvest dessert wine from raisined or frozen grapes, such as Germany, California, or Canada’s ice wine, they lack the complex aromas and flavours of honey, toasted nuts, stone and exotic fruits that botrytised wines contain and can often taste cloying. The best botrytised wines balance acidity with sweetness and are just as enjoyable with a meal as they are as an aperitif or with cheese or dessert. A rot by any other name does not taste as sweet.
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