noble rot

noun

: a botrytis fungus (Botrytis cinerea) that infects various usually overripe wine grapes causing shriveling which results in increased sugar and flavor content and is responsible for the characteristic flavor of sauternes and related wines

Examples of noble rot in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Sauternes This is a sweet wine made from noble rot in France’s Bordeaux region. —

Nicole Kliest, Vogue, 13 Feb. 2024 While today the wine is produced in more traditional methods, at the time noble rot was believed impossible in the Napa Valley — making the Nightingale wine a celebrated anomaly. —

Bryce Wiatrak, SFChronicle.com, 12 Apr. 2018 Tokaj Aszú is made from grapes affected by noble rot. —

Per and Britt Karlsson, Forbes, 24 June 2022 The Tokaji aszú wines are made by macerating the whole berries of highly concentrated noble rot grapes affected by botrytis in the wine must over a span of a couple of days. —

Cathrine Todd, Forbes, 2 June 2021 Semillon dominates but Sauvignon Blanc can also be affected by the noble rot. —

Per and Britt Karlsson, Forbes, 12 Apr. 2021

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'noble rot.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.