Noble Rot

Château d’Yquem in Sauternes, Bordeaux, is often cited as the classic example of a wine made from nobly rotten grapes. Its claim as the best such wine is hotly debated (Château Climens is the most obvious challenger in Sauternes, and they are legion in other regions). Like the dry white wines of Bordeaux, Sauternes is also produced primarily from a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon grapes. It does not have nearly as long a history as is commonly supposed, the method of harvesting Sauternes by pickers making successive passes through the vineyards removing only the nobly rotten grapes having been developed only at the beginning of the nineteenth century at Château d’Yquem. Because making wine from rotten grapes was counterintuitive, European winemakers discovered the possibilities opened up by noble rot comparatively late in the history of winemaking.