"Leo Bueno" > skrev i melding
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>
> It is not all together clear to me whether late harvest wines are
> necessarily made from grapes attacked by the Botrytis fungus.
> Intuitively, I suspect one can just pick the berries after they have
> shriveled or cracked from freezing but have not necessarily been
> attacked by the fungus. Enlighten me please.
>
Ice wine (made from frozen grapes) is a different animal.
Late harvest needs to be defined in order to answer your question. We are
talking about very ripe grapes, i.e. with a high sugar content. How high
will depend on climate and growing season, so a late harvest German wine is
not the same as a Californian one. Germans classify their wines on basis of
juice sugar content alone and in order to reach the highest levels of
Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese botrytis is *necessary*.
The Auslese is technically late harvest too, most often without botrytis,
but not with a sugar level remotely approaching what can be found in hotter
climates. Thus a sweet Auslese will only have 8% alcohol.

On the other hand, in hot places like California or Greece, the grapes will
easily become superripe and rich in sugar without needing botrytis to boost
the juice.
Anders