Botrytis Cinerea

A beneficial fungus, also known as noble rot, which is necessary to produce many of the world’s great sweet wines, including Sauternes. In certain years, when the degree of humidity is just right, Botrytis cinerea will attack grapes, covering them with a gray mold. The mold lives by penetrating the grapes’ skins and using up the available water in the juice. This concentrates the sugar, flavor, and ACID so that a COMPLEX wine of exceptional sweetness can be made. Botrytis is unique in that, unlike other molds, it produces flavors that harmonize with the flavors of particular grapes.

Orange wine is….

A. A red wine that has been exposed to considerable oxygen and heat

B. A white wine made by fermenting the grapes on their skins

C. A wine that is made from a special orange-ish colored clone of a variety

D. A wine made in amphora or qvevri pottery

White wines are generally pressed off of their skins shortly after entering the winery— not the case with an orange wine. An orange/amber color is produced when white grape varieties ferment with their skins. In addition to an orange-ish color, the extended exposure to skins gives this style of white wine more tannin and a slight note of bitterness. Orange wines can be fermented in a variety of different vessels including stainless steel tanks or oak barrels. Often, a traditional method in clay amphora and qvevri is used, but othertypes of wines can also be made in these receptacles, so they are not synonymous with orange wines. The flavors and textures of wines made in a amphora and qvevri are quite distinct. Often there’s a resiny, character or something that’s smokey and peaty not unlike single malt Scotch. Depending on the variety of grapes used, the flavors can be reminiscent of wild herbs, dried orange peel, dried apricots, walnut skins, sea salt, minerals, ginger, and spiced tea.

“I like my coffee black, my beer from Germany, wine from Burgundy, the darker, the better. I like my heroes complicated and brooding, James Dean in oiled leather, leaning on a motorcycle. You know the color.”

Barbara Crooker,

American poet, from the poem Ode to Chocolate

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