Pairing Noble Rot Wines with Food

Wines produced using Noble Rot are labelled as Late Harvest wines. Noble Rot, also known as Botrytis cinerea is a fungus that, as the name suggests, ‘rots' wine grapes. To be more specific, it doesn't just decay grapes – other fruits, vegetables and flowers too. However, with wine grapes, the fungus makes them sweeter, while also adding desirable flavours.

Botrytis dehydrates the grapes. The sugar content, however, stays. This means that A) the juice is sweeter, and B) more grapes are required to produce the same amount of juice. In addition to intensifying sweetness, Noble Rot also introduces flavours of honey, caramel, dried fruit and ginger in the wine. The resulting wine is not just high in sugar content, but alcohol too.

After understanding about Noble Rot wines, let us reflect on pairing them with food.

• Since Noble Rot wines show a high degree of sweetness, they go beautifully well with delicious desserts. (Desserts make dry wines taste bitter.) These include cream and custard-based preparations like the Italian panna cotta and French crème brûlée.
• Cheesecake is another great match with these wines.
• Are you looking for an easier food pairing? Serve these drinks with fruit.
• As for Botrytis wines and cheese pairing, blue cheese makes for an ideal partner with them.
• Since Noble Rot wines are synonymous with dessert, pairing them with savouries might offer plenty of scopes. Foie gras makes for a great combination with it.