Botrytis Selection — Tries Successives (Multiple Passes)

Tries successives is a selective harvesting protocol in which pickers make multiple journeys through a vineyard, each time selecting only grapes showing optimal noble rot development. Unlike whole-vineyard harvests, this method recognizes that Botrytis cinerea infects grapes unevenly, developing at different rates across clusters, individual berries, and even microsites within a single bunch. The technique demands that pickers understand visual and tactile cues, including shriveled texture, concentration of color, and the characteristic grey mold coating, to distinguish genuinely affected fruit from unripe or grey-rot-damaged berries. Only the most prestigious estates can afford the picker-to-vineyard ratio this approach requires.

• Each pass targets grapes at a specific maturation stage rather than waiting for an entire block to mature uniformly
• Some of the finest botrytized wines are picked berry by berry in successive tries, a French term meaning 'selections'
• Demands precise timing: passing too early captures underripe botrytis; waiting too long risks losing aromatic freshness or inviting grey rot

The winemaker monitors weather patterns and sugar development, typically beginning a tries successives protocol in late September or October in the Northern Hemisphere. As Botrytis cinerea penetrates the grape skin, it causes microscopic wounds that lead to water evaporation, dehydrating and concentrating sugars, acids, and aroma compounds within the berry. The fungus also generates new flavor compounds, including the lactone sotolon, which contributes honey, caramel, and nut character to finished wines. The first pass may collect only a small fraction of the crop; subsequent passes focus on different zones or clusters within the same rows as infection progresses. Each pass is often vinified separately before a final blend is assembled.

• Optimal noble rot development requires morning humidity or fog followed by dry, sunny afternoons; rivers such as the Ciron in Sauternes or the Bodrog in Tokaj are critical to generating the necessary mists
• The fungus primarily consumes tartaric acid, with the remaining tartaric acid transformed into gluconic acid and glycerol, contributing to the wines' characteristic viscosity and complexity
• Each pass's fruit can be pressed separately before blending, allowing winemakers to control final residual sugar levels and aromatic profile

Tries successives produces wines of extraordinary complexity, richness, and aging potential. The selective nature of harvesting allows winemakers to balance concentration with freshness; fruit from earlier passes retains more acidity and aromatic lift, while later passes contribute deeper honey, dried apricot, and caramelized notes. A notable feature of botrytized wines is their high acid content, which prevents them from tasting cloying even with sugar levels often exceeding 200 g/L. Key aroma compounds identified in Sauternes and other botrytized wines include sotolon, phenylacetaldehyde, beta-lactones, and gamma-lactones, which together produce flavors of peach, apricot, quince, honey, and caramel.

• Botrytized wines exhibit a greater abundance of volatile aroma compounds compared to non-botrytized white wines, contributing to their layered complexity
• Noble rot wines evolve significantly with age: youthful bottles show citrus and stone fruit; decade-old examples develop honeycomb, dried apricot, beeswax, and gently oxidative hazelnut notes
• Tries successives selections command a significant price premium over standard sweet wines, reflecting both labor intensity and dramatically reduced yields of 10 to 20 percent of a normal crop

Tries successives is employed almost exclusively in regions with reliable noble rot conditions and a premium-wine focus: Sauternes and Barsac in Bordeaux, Tokaj in Hungary, the Rhine and Mosel-Saar valleys in Germany, and select sites in Austria and Alsace. It is fundamentally unsuitable for climates without the specific combination of autumn humidity and afternoon sunshine needed to develop noble rot reliably. For top producers in Bordeaux, the Loire, and elsewhere, the microclimate variation across a single bunch necessitates multiple passes through the vineyard, allowing some clusters more time to develop rot and achieving greater consistency in the final blend.

• Most common at classified châteaux of Sauternes and Barsac, including Château d'Yquem, Château Climens, and Château Suduiraut
• Standard practice for Tokaji Aszú production in Hungary, where regulations now require a minimum of 120 g/L residual sugar, effectively setting 5-puttonyos concentration as the baseline
• Employed by German estates producing Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese, where Prädikat classification is defined by must weight and botrytis concentration

Château d'Yquem represents the apex of tries successives mastery. Classified as Premier Cru Supérieur in the 1855 Bordeaux classification, the sole wine in that category, it undertakes on average six passes through its vineyard each harvest season and produces around 65,000 bottles in a typical year. The estate has declared no wine under its own label in multiple poor vintages, including 1992. In Tokaj, producers such as Disznókő use tries successives to select individual botrytized berries for their Aszú wines, with the 2013 Hungarian wine law setting rigorous minimum sugar standards. German estates on the Mosel and Saar also practice selective botrytis harvesting; Egon Müller's 2003 Scharzhofberger Trockenbeerenauslese set a record when it sold at auction in 2015 for 12,000 euros per bottle, making it the most expensive newly released German wine ever sold.

• Château d'Yquem's entire production methodology centers on tries successives; an 1811 bottle sold for 75,000 pounds at The Ritz Hotel in London in 2011, the most expensive white wine ever sold at that time
• Egon Müller's 2003 Scharzhofberger TBA sold for 12,000 euros per bottle at the VDP Prädikat wine auction in Trier in 2015, a record for newly released German wine
• Tokaji Aszú's traditional puttonyos system directly reflected tries successives intensity; the higher the number, the more botrytis-concentrated fruit was added to the base wine

The primary constraint on tries successives is economic: yields are dramatically reduced, typically to just 10 to 20 percent of a standard crop, and the picker-to-vineyard ratio is far higher than in conventional harvests. Weather risk is acute; rain during the multi-week harvest window can trigger destructive grey rot rather than noble rot, and if the weather stays persistently wet, the entire crop can be lost. Climate change introduces additional uncertainty, shifting the timing and reliability of botrytis development across traditional regions. In poor vintages, classified estates may declassify all fruit or forgo production under their primary label entirely, as Château d'Yquem has done on multiple occasions.

• The microclimate around each bunch varies, so individual berries within a single cluster can display very different levels of botrytis, necessitating highly skilled and attentive pickers
• Few producers outside the top classified estates can charge prices that justify such labor-intensive selective harvesting; many producers pick once and sort botrytized berries from bunches at the winery instead
• Climate change may extend or compress the botrytis window in different regions, adding further uncertainty to an already weather-dependent process