Noble rot is the benevolent form of a grey fungus, Botrytis cinerea, affecting wine grapes. Infestation by Botrytis requires moist conditions, and if the weather stays wet, the malevolent form, “grey rot” or “suur vrot” can destroy your grapes.
Grapes become infected with Botrytis when they are ripe or almost ripe. If they are then exposed to drier conditions and become partially raisined this form of infection brought about by the partial drying process is known as noble rot. Grapes when picked at a certain point during infestation can produce particularly fine and concentrated wines.

We visited the De Bos farm in the Upper-Hemel-en-Aarde Valley yesterday, to see what we will be taking in this week from there. We saw this awesome picture in the Zinfandel vineyard – too good not to share. The infection looks like little claws getting stuck into the grape.

We do make a wine with Noble Rot character called Dolce Primitivo. It is from Primitivo grapes, but from Wellington. So after the fungus has attached to the skin, because of our dry conditions, the berries become beautifully raisin-like and concentrated. Because of the sugar content of the berries the fermentation stops naturally at some point giving rise to a wine with a lower alcohol and higher residual sugar. Through the concentration process of the noble rot – the acidity is also concentrated. The product then a wine which isn’t just sticky sweet, but also has some lovely acidity to balance it all.

The perfect ending to a meal, or a late night glass (or two) now that February`s cooler nights have set in.