"Spätlese"

Classification for a late harvested quality wine, which comes from a single vineyard and has a fixed must weight (in Rheinhessen: grape varieties Riesling and Silvaner 85 ° Oechsle, all other grape varieties 90 ° Oechsle). The "discovery of Spätlese" is considered a serendipity. At the time, the starting date of the harvest was set by the landlords, who needed to be asked for permission by their tenants, as soon as the grapes were ripe enough. The lanlords then sent a supervisor, in order to oversee the harvest. In 1775 the messenger sent by Schloss Johannisberg in Rheingau returned late from the landlord in Fulda, leading to the harvest starting much later than normally. While waiting for the messenger's return, the grapes had ripened more and started to be attacked by botrytis, a mushroom that is nowadays known as noble rot and used for high quality noble sweet wines only.