Noble wine mold - Botrytis cinerea
The wines that inspire confidence, honey or shiny gold color, aromatic without satiety, vibrating and penetrating - these are the wines obtained from grapes affected by noble mold. To distinguish this condition of grape bunches from harmful rotting, the ashy mold Botrytis cinerea is called "noble mold" or "noble rot". When it strikes healthy, fully ripe white grapes, it drains the flesh under the intact skin to a concentrated essence. If mold infects unripe berries damaged by insects or heavy rain, destroys the skin and allows harmful bacteria to enter the pulp, it is called gray mold, and it can pose a great danger to the crop. It also disrupts the pigmentation of bright red berries,giving the wine a dull grayish color.
The wines produced with Botrytis include French Sauternes, Hungarian Tokay and the famous German sweet wines. They cannot be obtained every year, since the growth of noble mold directly depends on the combination of heat and humidity in nature after the grapes are ripe. In a good year, early ripening grapes with thick skins may allow Botrytis to do its work before bad weather sets in; at the same time, the skin will remain intact under the destructive effect of mold, and it will also protect the pulp of the berries from contact with air.
Noble mold invades vineyards from time to time, and even on individual clusters, its effect will be gradual. The same bunch may contain shriveled, moldy berries, while other berries may still be swollen with a brown skin softened by the initial attack of mold, and some berries may be firm, ripe, and not in the least affected by green fungus.
In order for the noble mold to have its effect on the character of the wine, individual berries should be plucked from the bunch as soon as they are sufficiently wrinkled, but not yet completely dry. It is necessary to pluck the berries from the same vine several times - often five, six, seven times or more over a period that in some years stretches for months. Moreover, each time the harvested grapes are subjected to a separate fermentation.
Two special properties of noble mold affect the structure and taste of the wine and create a difference between wines with Botrytis and sweet wines obtained from grapes that are dried in conventional drying ovens. In this case, the concentration of acid and sugar occurs due to the loss of moisture, without changing the composition of the grape berries, while Botrytis, which feeds on acid with sugar, makes chemical changes in the grapes, creating new elements that change the bouquet of the wine. Since mold consumes more acid than sugar, the acidity of the wort decreases. In addition, Botrytis mold produces a special substance that prevents alcoholic fermentation. In the wort obtained from partially dried berries, whose chemical composition has remained unchanged, alcohol-resistant yeast bacteria are able to ferment sugar into alcohol up to 18 ° -20 °.But a high concentration of sugar in grapes with noble mold means a correspondingly high concentration of mold, which quickly inhibits fermentation. For example, in Sauternes wines, perfect balance is achieved due to sugar, which can be converted into 20 ° alcohol. But thanks to the influence of mold, fermentation will stop earlier, and the wine will contain from 13.5 ° to 14 ° alcohol. If the harvested grapes contain even more sugar, fermentation will stop even faster, and the wine will be sweeter, with a lower alcohol content. If grapes are harvested when they have an alcohol potential much less than 20 °, the balance of the wine will be disturbed due to the excessive alcohol content and the lack of sweetness.which quickly inhibits fermentation. For example, in Sauternes wines, the perfect balance is achieved by sugar, which can be converted into 20 ° alcohol. But thanks to the influence of mold, fermentation will stop earlier, and the wine will contain from 13.5 ° to 14 ° alcohol. If the harvested grapes contain even more sugar, fermentation will stop even faster, and the wine will be sweeter, with a lower alcohol content. If grapes are harvested when they have an alcohol potential much less than 20 °, the balance of the wine will be disturbed due to the excessive alcohol content and the lack of sweetness.which quickly inhibits fermentation. For example, in Sauternes wines, the perfect balance is achieved by sugar, which can be converted into 20 ° alcohol. But thanks to the influence of mold, fermentation will stop earlier, and the wine will contain from 13.5 ° to 14 ° alcohol. If the harvested grapes contain even more sugar, fermentation will stop even faster, and the wine will be sweeter, with a lower alcohol content. If grapes are harvested when they have an alcohol potential much less than 20 °, the balance of the wine will be disturbed due to the excessive alcohol content and the lack of sweetness.If the harvested grapes contain even more sugar, fermentation will stop even faster, and the wine will be sweeter, with a lower alcohol content. If grapes are harvested when they have an alcohol potential much less than 20 °, the balance of the wine will be disturbed due to the excessive alcohol content and the lack of sweetness.If the harvested grapes contain even more sugar, fermentation will stop even faster, and the wine will be sweeter, with a lower alcohol content. If grapes are harvested when they have an alcohol potential much less than 20 °, the balance of the wine will be disturbed due to the excessive alcohol content and the lack of sweetness.
Wine production processes are very different from each other. For example, the sweet Hungarian Tokaj wines are not pure wines with noble mold. They are obtained by adding a certain amount of noble mold grapes to the must obtained from other white grapes. In Sauternes wines, the only difference in their production is that before fermentation begins, there is no way to separate the solid particles from the dense, thick must, so the juice is poured directly into barrels. Its fermentation proceeds very slowly, as does the purification: it takes three and a half years for the wine of Chateau Ikem to purify before being bottled. And after that, it often absolutely calmly lives up to its century.