Rotten Trimbach

S

Saina Nieminen

Saina Nieminen
Trimbach Pinot Gris Sélection de Grains Nobles 1985 - 13% abv; 6 g/l acidity; 40 g/l RS
What a beautiful, mature sweetie. Pale orange colour. It smells of honey, spice, crystallized fruits and copper kettles. It is rich and obviously has some sweetness (honestly, I expected more sweetness) but delineated and actually quite racy! Fresh, moderately long finish - refreshing enough that I took a second pour and could have handled a third had there been any left! Quite the perfect time to be drinking this.

I usually prefer sweeties without botrytis because I like the purity of the fruit to shine through without anything else obfuscating the view. But sometimes these rotten wines are just lovely; especially in such examples which still manage to show the grape's character.

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originally posted by Otto Nieminen:

I usually prefer sweeties without botrytis because I like the purity of the fruit to shine through without anything else obfuscating the view. But sometimes these rotten wines are just lovely; especially in such examples which still manage to show the grape's character.
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maybe it's a question of full disclosure

there is a guy in Vouvray who put "botrytis" on the label; he seems to have generated a cult following, at least in New York
 
It's not cool to say so, but I must confess - I like botrytised (is that a word?) wines. Well, at least those with r.s. where the winemaker was trying to capture the botrytis. In fact, I guess I sometimes like it a bit in dry wines as the 2004 Clos Sainte Hune I tasted Saturday afternoon was more attractive in its youth (i.e., less stern/austere) than CSH usually is and M. Trimbach said it contains a bit of "rotten" fruit.
 
originally posted by maureen:
It's not cool to say so, but I must confess - I like botrytised (is that a word?) wines. Well, at least those with r.s. where the winemaker was trying to capture the botrytis. In fact, I guess I sometimes like it a bit in dry wines as the 2004 Clos Sainte Hune I tasted Saturday afternoon was more attractive in its youth (i.e., less stern/austere) than CSH usually is and M. Trimbach said it contains a bit of "rotten" fruit.
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This, of course, has been a subject of endless debate, particularly where the notion that botrytis masks terroir is concerned.

It seems almost unfair, but I have grown to like botrytis, perhaps even identify groups of wines with elements of botrytis (e.g. in the Maconnais), while similar traits in other wines from the same regions make me very nervous.

As far as CSH is concerned, I can do without botrytis in the drier versions for sure; I just don't think they will evolve to my liking. But vintages such as '89, and to some extent '90, can put the rotten fruit to very good use.
 
originally posted by .sasha:
originally posted by maureen:
It's not cool to say so, but I must confess - I like botrytised (is that a word?) wines. Well, at least those with r.s. where the winemaker was trying to capture the botrytis. In fact, I guess I sometimes like it a bit in dry wines as the 2004 Clos Sainte Hune I tasted Saturday afternoon was more attractive in its youth (i.e., less stern/austere) than CSH usually is and M. Trimbach said it contains a bit of "rotten" fruit.
Click to expand...

This, of course, has been a subject of endless debate, particularly where the notion that botrytis masks terroir is concerned.

It seems almost unfair, but I have grown to like botrytis, perhaps even identify groups of wines with elements of botrytis (e.g. in the Maconnais), while similar traits in other wines from the same regions make me very nervous.
Click to expand...

I'm the same way. I love the wines that Thevenet and Guillemot make, all of which are normally botrytis marked.

Botrytis does not necessarily entail a lack of clarity in a wine.
 
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