Belmonte Marlborough Botrytised Riesling

This is definitely a wine to get excited about: a sticky that’s just 9.5% ABV and made by the great Dr John Forrest, who brought to the world the marvellous The Doctors wines which are at the top of all our lists and who has lead the New Zealand lower alcohol wines drive.  So it’s a wine with pedigree.  Its packed with flavour from the Noble Rot grapes (see below) with lashings of honey and marmalade balanced with grapefruit and lychee. Add to this a nose of leafy tea and a distinctive long, almost metallic finish and you have a wine to savour.  Some clearly rate it highly but our panel was left with a few doubts – we found it almost too sugary and yet also a little thin.  So not the  perfect 5 stars we’d hoped to find, but nonetheless an excellent sticky which will end any dinner on a high note.

Note: What does “botrytised” mean?

It means that the grapes have been attacked on the vine by the botrytis fungus which causes ‘Noble Rot’  that shrivels and decays wine grapes. In other uses this fungus family variously help make  penicillin, turns  Stilton blue and cause athelete’s foot.  But don’t be put off.  In wine making  it intensifies the sweetness by dehydrating the grapes and intensifies the flavours and is the secret behind making many great wines such as Sauternes, Tokajis and  Spätlese Rieslings.  For more information read this excellent report from Wine Folly