Botrytis Cinerea, anoble rot

The Botrytis cinerea is a fungus responsible for grey rot affecting many plants and fruits. But in some special places of the Loire Valley, such as the slopes of Coteaux du Layon and the lands of Quarts de Chaume, botrytis can really raise the properties of the grapes and is then called “Noble Rot”.

There are two essential conditions for this fungus to do its work: well ripen grapes and a nearby river, such as the Layon, for the mist to raise every morning before giving way to the warmth of the sunny October afternoons.

The effect of the botrytis is to “soak up” the water of the grapes, to concentrate the sugar of the grape must (unfiltered grape juice) and, above all, to transform the aromas. In order to get all the aromatic substances of the noble rot, the vines require specific works at each step of the process until the harvest. A sweet botrytised wine is not a “sweetened dry wine”. With botrytis, a magical transformation happens which gives way to a new world of amber colours and aromas.

Oenological facts about sweet and syrupy wines

To get 1° of alcohol, around 17gr./L. of natural sugar is needed. So if the freshly pressed grape must contain 221gr. of sugar, we get a dry sugarless wine of 13° of alcohol after the complete fermentation of the sugar.

In case of the Botrytis cinerea giving rise to a sugar concentration of 340gr./L., our wine would reach a 20% alcohol concentration (potential content). However, the action of yeast is not complete when sugar concentration is too high. If fermentation stops at around 12°, there will be 136gr. (8°x17gr.) of residual sugars.

As an average, 40hl at 13°-14° will produce 25hl at 16°-18° or 10-15hl at 20°-25°. Obviously, things are not as mathematical as this. The concentration levels and volumes that we get vary dramatically from one year to another.

SAPROS, Botrytis wine club

The “Domaine Jo Pithon” is one of the active founding members of SAPROS. Founded in January 2001, this association gathers approximately 20 winegrowers coming from four different wine-growing areas of France. Together they share the same ethic, conviction, approach and respect towards sweet and syrupy wines: produce naturally sweet wines with the action of the Botrytis cinerea. These exceptional wines reflect and magnify the specific and magic properties of their terroirs and vines. Any use of artificial process to concentrate and add sugar to the wine (chaptalization, osmosis, concentrator, etc.) is excluded.

The aim of SAPROS is to get these rare and exceptional wines to be acknowledged by the media as well as by the restaurant owners and authentic wine lovers.

For more information : www.sapros.org