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How does botrytis affect sweet wine?

Botrytis cinerea is a fungus that can affect grapes and other parts of the vine in humid conditions.  The names comes from the Greek botrys ('grape') and Latin cinerea ('ash-like', from the grey appearance of the affected grapes).  It can live through the winter as mycelium or sclerotium within dormant buds, vine bark or on plant debris on the ground.  Grapes typically become infected with Botrytis late in the season, during the sugar accumulation phase, i.e. when they are ripe.  

The more common expression of botrytis is as devastating gray rot (“pourriture gris”), a common malady of the vine, experienced in many regions.  However, in some areas, in the right conditions, a desirable botrytis infection occurs, producing what is called noble rot (“pourriture noble”).  Regions producing sweet wines influenced by botrytis cinerea include Tokaj from Hungary, Sauternes and Trockenbeerenauslese from Germany.  

A classic botrytis year might proceed on the following lines:  Humid weather in July, as the grapes are beginning to accumulate sugars, followed by hot, dry weather, shrivelling the grapes and producing a raisin-effect; followed by autumn mists, which encourage the botrytis to bloom and develop slowly.  

The mould dehydrates the grapes, leaving them shrivelled and raisin-like, and concentrates the sugars in the process, turning them from simple into complex sugars, which develop a huge range of flavours with time in bottle.  The result is a sweet wine with deep, honey-like luscious flavors.  Some of the classic aromas of developed botrytised wines are ginger, honey, beeswax and wet sticking plaster (elastoplast!).

A microscopic view of the filaments of botrytis cinerea mould that penetrate the grape skin, drawing out moisture and converting simple sugars into complex sugars in the process

The terroir in Sauternes is particularly suited to this process, with the Garonne and Ciron rivers producing mists in the morning, which then burn off in the warm afternoon autumn sunshine, a scene that always reminds us of Keats’ line (or was it Mr Kipling....) about the “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness”.  No other wine we can think of is able to capture more perfectly the weather of a particular year and to express it many decades later.  Currently, we have some bottles of 1893 Yquem on our list that, 130 years on, still show signs of the rain and mist which affected Sauternes in October of that year.

Because the amount of juice extracted from these grapes is extremely low, it takes a lot of vines to produce a small amount of wine.  Yields in Sauternes, for instance, are often around 8-15 hectolitres per hectare (compared with 35-45 hl/ha for comparable red Bordeaux estates).

Below, you will find some of the Sauternes from our list.

Producer Profile

Antony Irvine

Antony Irvine has worked in the wine trade since 1990, starting out, as with many of his generation, in wine, on the shop floor in various branches of Oddbins, where he completed his WSET Diploma.  This inspired him to work in Bordeaux at a well-known cru classé château. Since moving on to the fine wine trade he has tasted every Bordeaux vintage from barrel, without exception, for the last 25 years. 

WHITE 2007 1 case Château Suduiraut 75cl £450 per case of 12 Château Suduiraut
2007 / 1 case / 75cl
£450 per case of 12
IB
WHITE 2008 1 case Château d'Yquem 75cl £1,400 per case of 6 Château d'Yquem
2008 / 1 case / 75cl
£1,400 per case of 6
IB
WHITE 2009 1 case Château Cantegril Half bottle £240 per case of 24 Château Cantegril
2009 / 1 case / Half bottle
£240 per case of 24
DP
WHITE 2009 3 cases Château Climens 75cl £280 per case of 6 Château Climens
2009 / 3 cases / 75cl
£280 per case of 6
IB
WHITE 2009 1 case Château Rabaud Promis 75cl £395 per case of 12 Château Rabaud Promis
2009 / 1 case / 75cl
£395 per case of 12
IB
WHITE 2009 1 case Château Suduiraut 75cl £600 per case of 12 Château Suduiraut
2009 / 1 case / 75cl
£600 per case of 12
IB
WHITE 2010 1 bottle Château d'Yquem 75cl £280 per bottle Château d'Yquem
2010 / 1 bottle / 75cl
£280 per bottle
DP
WHITE 2010 1 case Château Raymond Lafon 75cl £360 per case of 12 Château Raymond Lafon
2010 / 1 case / 75cl
£360 per case of 12
IB
WHITE 2013 1 case Château Suduiraut 75cl £220 per case of 6 Château Suduiraut
2013 / 1 case / 75cl
£220 per case of 6
IB
WHITE 2016 1 case Château Doisy Daene 75cl £320 per case of 12 Château Doisy Daene
2016 / 1 case / 75cl
£320 per case of 12
IB
WHITE 2016 4 cases Château Rieussec 75cl £185 per case of 6 Château Rieussec
2016 / 4 cases / 75cl
£185 per case of 6
IB
WHITE 2019 1 case Château d'Yquem 75cl £600 per case of 3 Château d'Yquem
2019 / 1 case / 75cl
£600 per case of 3
IB
WHITE 2019 2 cases Château d'Yquem 75cl £1,450 per case of 6 Château d'Yquem
2019 / 2 cases / 75cl
£1,450 per case of 6
IB
WHITE 2019 1 case Château Rieussec 75cl £330 per case of 4 Château Rieussec
2019 / 1 case / 75cl
£330 per case of 4
IB
Tasting Notes"Pale lemon-gold in color, the 2019 Rieussec flaunts a delicately scented nose of fresh grapefruit, lemon curd, lime leaves and clover honey with wafts of jasmine, white truffles and nutmeg. The palate slowly builds, revealing layers of apple and citrus fruits with loads of savory accents, framed by refreshing acidity and a seductively oily texture, finishing on a lingering honey-nut note. 94-96 points." Lisa Perotti-Brown MW, The Wine Advocate------"Expertly constructed, with luxuriously intense pineapple, mango and apricot pit flavours matched step for step by bitter orange peel, lime juice and tingling grated ginger. Sauternes doesn't always manage to deliver such a mouth-watering mix of satin texture set against pinpoint acidity, but the late harvest 2019 - botrytis arrived when the nights were cool - made for some exceptionally successful wines in the appellation, even if yields were tiny. This is a delicious Rieussec, full of personality, and its 120g/l residual sugar leaves its trace in texture rather than in weight. First year of organic certification. 96 points" Janeanson.com
WHITE 2020 1 bottle Château d'Yquem Magnum £450 per bottle Château d'Yquem
2020 / 1 bottle / Magnum
£450 per bottle
IB
WHITE 2020 4 cases Château d'Yquem 75cl £695 per case of 3 Château d'Yquem
2020 / 4 cases / 75cl
£695 per case of 3
IB
WHITE 2020 2 cases Château d'Yquem 75cl £1,350 per case of 6 Château d'Yquem
2020 / 2 cases / 75cl
£1,350 per case of 6
IB
WHITE 2021 Château d'Yquem 75cl £795 per case of 3 Château d'Yquem
2021 / / 75cl
£795 per case of 3
IB
WHITE 2021 Château d'Yquem Half bottle £795 per case of 6 Château d'Yquem
2021 / / Half bottle
£795 per case of 6
IB
WHITE 2021 Château d'Yquem 75cl £1,590 per case of 6 Château d'Yquem
2021 / / 75cl
£1,590 per case of 6
IB
Tasting Notes"Beautiful primary fruit boasting tropical complexity: mango, pineapple. Saltiness, according to the winemaker – and there is definitely savoury contrast in there. The marvel of this wine is its completeness – the stitching is so fine between the sugar, acidity, rich fruit and length. Opens up in the glass, with white chocolate, caramel, clotted cream, mixed peel, five-spice. As prestigious as ever, and so gratifying to drink right now. (RH) 14% Drink 2024 – 2044. 19 points". Richard Hemming MW, JancisRobinson.com------"The 2021 d'Yquem exhibits a complex bouquet of rose, exotic fruits and mandarin orange mingled with spring flowers, rose and crème brûlée, followed by a medium to full-bodied, ample and seamless palate that's suave and layered, with a deep core and a long finish that's lent definition by delicate bitterness that offsets the 148 grams per liter residual sugar. This blend of 65% Sémillon and 35% Sauvignon Blanc was matured, as usual, in all new barrels, but the new oak is perfectly integrated and barely noticeable. 95 points." Yohan Castaing, RobertParker.com------"The 2021 Yquem was tasted in Amsterdam, the first wine poured at a lunch, thereby allowing me a longer period to examine it. Slightly burnished in hue, it has a very attractive bouquet with scents of dried quince, clementine, linseed and subtle candle wax, perhaps more discrete than usual, but certainly fresh and vibrant. The palate is medium-bodied and viscous on the entry, a Yquem with perhaps a lighter chassis than recent vintages, prioritizing poise and purity over horsepower— exactly the right approach in such a challenging season. It opens wonderfully in the glass, gaining more frangipane and kaki fruit scents, though it seems to have a lighter and more tensile finish than the 2020 or 2019. As such, I suspect that it will be comparatively approachable and, of course, delicious. Readers should note that I will probably re-taste the 2021 in Bordeaux during primeur. 2030-2060. 96 points" Neal Martin, Vinous.com------"...Pale lemon-gold colored, perfumed notes of orange peel, juicy peaches, grapefruit, and honeycomb slowly emerge from the glass, followed by suggestions of jasmine tea, fresh ginger, and lime blossoms. The palate is fantastically satiny, with great tension and loads of spicy sparks complementing the citrusy flavors, finishing with epic length and a zesty lift. 54,000 bottles were made. The alcohol is 13.9%, and the pH is 3.79. 97 points" Lisa Perotti-Brown, The Wine Independant

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