Botritis is a
fungus which affects
grapes of the species
Vitis vinifera, the
European wine grape. It infects the grape clusters and inserts its
hyphae into the grapes themselves. In large amounts, it will
dehydrate the grapes completely and make them
worthless. In small amounts, it can actually strengthen the flavor of the grapes by increasing their sugar content, making for better
wine. There has been little to no success with either introducing or removing this fungus in the
vineyard, although sometimes it can be added to grapes after they are already picked.
since this fungus can be beneficial, it is sometimes known as noble rot.