Botrytis Riesling 2013 - Library Wine

There are different methods to make a sweet wine like freezing the grapes but the purest & greatest wines are made naturally in the vineyard which is very labour intensive and costly. It’s a huge risk to leave perfectly ripe grapes out in the hope of getting a perfect long autumn with enough humidity for botrytis to set in - the chances of frost or rain clearly increases as the autumn months wear on and we have lost a few vintages to grey rot. But a beautiful summer and long and relatively dry autumn allowed us to handpicked at the end of May in two passages - once for the first affected grapes and a selective pick two weeks later, cutting down the grapes affected by undesirable grey rot. The necessity for selective harvesting to pick grapes only at the optimum point of botrytis infection is crucial to the quality of the wine. We picked botrytis grapes and a part “Trockenbeerenauslese” (berries shriveled to raisins) which resulted in a tiny average yield of less than 400g grapes per vine.

After gently pressing the precious grapes I ended up with only 100L and waited patiently for it to go through a long fermentation for over 4 months but have been awarded with a beautiful liquid gold. I allowed it to mature for another 10 months before we bottled this rarity.

This wine is literally off the scale! Overwhelmingly opulent in its expression of raisiny and honeyed lusciousness with floral and citrus notes and a wonderful caramelised ginger finish. Although texture is rich there is a beautiful freshness that brings the wine alive! Perfect for seduction – but why waste it on someone else…

Duck liver terrine, blue cheese and fruity desserts.